Kaya Women’s 7s Triumph The Kaya FC Women's Team take the 7's Football League crown in emphatic fashion.

The Kaya FC–Iloilo Women’s Team have been crowned champions of the AIA 7’s Football League, after downing Manila Nomads 3-1 on Sunday night. After narrowly missing out on the title in the last edition of the competition, Let Dimzon’s side accomplished the redemption they set out for at the start of the tournament.

“Finally,” said a pleased Dimzon after the final whistle. “It’s the second time that the team joined. Although we were frustrated last season, ang ganda ng response and improvement para makuha satin ang panalo this year.” 

Kaya made their intentions clear from the first whistle, as they peppered Nomads’ goal right from the get-go. The front three of Bhebe Lemoran, Shela Cadag, and Irish Navaja looked particularly menacing up front. With plenty of the ball, and the attempts piling up, the breakthrough eventually arrived.

Nicole Ramores got the scoring started early in the first half with a strong low drive from distance. Lemoran then added a second to punctuate her spectacular all-around season. Then much like in the semi-finals, substitute Tea Roxas added a third in the second half, with a neat left-footed finish from distance to seal the triumph. Nomads were able to squeeze in a late consolation, but the result was already too far to rescue. 

“We had a rough start in the beginning, with players still trickling in from different parts of the country. But as things fell into place, we started to build momentum and we learned a lot of lessons along the way. I feel like we worked really hard and we genuinely really deserve this win,” said captain Pat Tomanon.

As for what’s next for the Women’s team, aside from attempting to defend their title in the upcoming 7’s season that starts next month, Tomanon alluded to the squad’s ambitions later in the year.

“I would like to see us moving forward to dominate the 11-a-side game as well in the Women’s League. I’d love to see our progress not just in 7-a-side, but in a standard 11-a-side game as well,” she said.