The UDLAP Aztecas are absolute masters and commanders of the women´s soccer University Championship Telmex – Telcel (CUTT), since they have beaten every rival they have met and were crowned undefeated champions for the 2017 – 2018 season. The male soccer team stayed one step behind and are now national runners-up.
The CUTT´s final game started with the referee’s whistle at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla campus, bringing with it a lot of emotions. The men came first, and after energetic play they kicked several shots at the goal, as the one thrown by Cristian Ruiz from UP Guadalajara, who hit the ball from afar to send it out of the reach of the Azteca goalkeeper and thus achieve the first goal at minute 14. Or the head shot in minute 28 by Alan Ruiz, that grazed the post, or the sharp blow from Fernando Chaparro in a corner kick, which happened 10 minutes later.
Even though both of these actions did not end in goal, Aztecas continued to show their offensive arsenal in the second half. At minute 58, Josafat Tello was prowling the UP Guadalajara’s goal area and, upon receiving a tackle from behind, he earned a penalty kick which he turned into a goal to tie the game. However, this good luck did not last long because the opponents scored two goals in defensive oversights, in minutes 60 and 70, by Alejandro Casillas and Manuel Villarreal, who made things very hard for the Green Tribe. In this way, and after 90 minutes of play, the scoreboard was 3 goals to 1.
At the end of this game, the UDLAP women Aztecas soccer team played against the UANL Tigers. The Aztecas team immediately took possession of the ball to push their opponents to their half of the field. This action came to fruition at minute 38 when Fernanda Piña took advantage of a series of rebounds to score the first goal of the game. After this, the situation did not change at all, as the Green Tribe continued to pester the Tigers, both by the right side and the left. At minute 63, the Tigers player Jordana Pérez scored a goal to tie the game.
But the Aztecas never gave up, because they had proven that they were the better team during the entire game, so with that spirit and some changes to the lineup made by their coach Albeni Sabino Pinheiro they got a break near the goal area when, at minute 79, the Tigers committed a foul close to the goal line and Diana González kicked the ball towards Paola González who tried to score with a header, but the Tigers defense successfully blocked it. The rebound landed close to Paola, who on the ground and with her left leg kicked the ball to bag the goal that would give the victory to her team 2 goals to 1.
In this way, the Universidad de las Américas Puebla representative teams became runners-up for the men’s group and champions in the women´s category at the University Championship Telmex – Telcel (CUTT). “It was a very good season for UDLAP football. We made great efforts during the year. The men are runners-up in strict terms, but for me they are champions because they are a great group. With the women´s team we suffered at the end, but Paola scored an important goal that gave us the title.” This was the balance provided by the Brazilian manager Sabino Pinheiro after the award ceremony.