Shipyard to Face Rovers for Docomo Pacific Men’s Futsal Title

A new champion will be crowned in this year’s Docomo Pacific Men’s Futsal League Sunday at the Guam Sports Complex Gym.

Defending champion Quality Distributors FC fell to No. 1 Guam Shipyard 8-3 in the first semifinal match of the league playoffs. Shipyard held on to a 1-0 lead for most of the first half until a Jimmy Bush goal leveled the match with a little more than five minutes left on the clock. The 1-1 score was short-lived as 20 seconds later, Shipyard regained the lead and pulled away for good with a goal each from Vinicius Rodrigues and Ian Mariano before the halftime buzzer. Shipyard continued to extend its lead in the deciding half, outscoring the league’s defending champion 5-2 to move on to the championship game. Shipyard was led by Jason Cunliffe and Mariano’s hat tricks. Rodrigues scored Shipyard’s two other goals. Isiah Lagutang and Kaito Inoue scored Quality’s other goals.

Shipyard will meet the Rovers FC for the championship title after the No. 2 team punched its ticket to the finals with a 9-6 win over the Southern Cobras.

The Cobras started off as the aggressor in the match, knocking in the match’s first goal off an Eddie Lee Lorenzo close-range shot in the third minute. The Cobras accidentally put the Rovers on the scoreboard three minutes later on an own goal, but managed to pull away with a trio of goals by the 15th minute of play.

A minute later, the Rovers began to chip away at the Cobras’ 4-1 advantage, with Kyle Legozzie scoring a goal almost every minute to level the match at 4-4. After a Natsuki Recella goal with less than five minutes left in the half gave the Rovers the lead, the winning team never looked back. Moments later, a Cobras defensive header unfortunately resulted in an own goal, giving the Rovers a 6-4 advantage by halftime.

Legozzie led the Rovers with a hat trick and teammate Recella scored twice. Jeremy Hare and Shawn Spindel scored the Rovers’ other goals. The Cobras were led by Donovan Reyes’ brace. Cristian Surber, Keith Surber and Austin Cruz scored the Cobras’ other goals.

The Cobras will next face Quality at 2 p.m. Sunday in a match to determine the third-place team. The championship match between Shipyard and the Rovers will kick off at 4 p.m. the same afternoon. A short awards ceremony will be held after the championship game with awards presented by Docomo Pacific.

The Bud Light Women’s semifinal matches originally scheduled for Friday evening will be played Sunday. The Paintco Lady Strykers will play the Doosan Lady Crushers at 1 p.m. Sunday. Quality Distributors FC will take on the dck Masters at 3 p.m. Sunday after the men’s league consolation match. The women’s futsal championship featuring the winners of Sunday’s semifinal matches will be played Sept. 29 at 2:15 p.m. The losing teams from Sunday’s semifinal matches will play in a consolation match at 1 p.m Sept. 29.