SYDNEY, Australia – Quinley Quezada grabbed a second half hat-trick as the Philippines ended the year with a 9-0 drubbing of Papua New Guinea in an international friendly last Thursday night at Western Sydney Wanderers Park.
Katrina Guillou also bagged a brace, while captain Tahnai Annis, Sara Eggesvik and Jessika Cowart were also on the scoresheet for the Filipinas, who showed significant improvement from their 5-1 win over the same squad last Sunday.
Defender Maya Alcantara was credited with the other goal in the 56th minute.
The Filipinas welcomed Eggesvik and Quezada back into the starting lineup with the latter immediately making an impact with a close range strike in the 11th minute.
Guillou doubled the lead in the 24th minute as the Filipinas continued their pattern of dominance on a PNG team that is preparing for the FIFA Women’s World Cup continental playoff against Panama in February.
The Filipinas began the second half in style with Cowart rifling a left footed shot from outside the box to the top corner to make it 3-nil in the 46th minute. Then came Annis’ fine strike from just inside the area seven minutes later.
Tied with Sarina Bolden as the country’s record goalscorer with 17 goals at the start of the game, Quezada forged ahead with goals in the 65th, 85th and 87th minutes.
Coach Alen Stajcic also gave Kaiya Jota her Filipinas debut when she came on as a halftime substitute to Olivia McDaniel.
“It was a much better performance from the other night,” said Stajcic, whose team played their 30th international match for the year.
“It’s probably the first time this year that we controlled the game from start to finish and really something that we’ve spoken about. It was pleasing to see it happen within the game. I’m not really worried about the scoreline, but I’m really worried about the way we play and I thought it was a big improvement not only from last week on our ability to control the ball and control the game.”
The Filipinas will take a break before resuming their FIFA Women’s World Cup preparations early next year.
The Filipinas is supported by team manager Jefferson Cheng, Philippine Sports Commission, and MVP Sports Foundation.
