MANILA, Philippines — History for the Filipinas.
The Philippines won its first Southeast Asian games gold medal in football courtesy of the women’s team, which outlasted Vietnam in a cardiac penalty shootout, 6-5, in Chonburi, Thailand.
The two squads were unable to put up a score after 90 minutes in regulation, sending their match to a 30-minute overtime.
After both teams were unable to score anew, the match went into a penalty shootout.
Tied at 5-all, Jackie Sawicki found the roof of the net, giving the Philippines a 6-5 lead.
It then went on the shoulders of goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel to get the stop and bag the win.
And get the stop, she did.
McDaniel was able to finally grab the gold medal for the Philippines after catching Tran Thi Thu’s shot, as the Filipina booters celebrated.
“I just felt it like we were going to win. I’ve never felt so calm in penalties before. I’m usually just losing my head. I think since our World Cup qualifiers, when I missed, that I really had to channel my inner Ate and step up to the plate each and every time to show that we can do it,” team captain Hali Long said in an interview posted by One Sports.
“It’s just an unreal feeling. We never won silver and we never won gold. You always want to end on a winning game. So it’s either bronze or gold. I’m really happy we won gold.”
Vietnam actually made a goal in the 29th minute of the match, after Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy’s header went in. But the referee called it offside.
This is another historic finish for the Filipinas, who earlier qualified to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 and pulled off a historic ASEAN Women’s Championship conquest the year prior.
