UNIVERSITY of the Philippines opened its title defense with a narrow 1-0 victory over University of the East Tuesday in the UAAP men’s football tournament at Ateneo pitch.

The Maroons leaned on the heroics of 2011 Southeast Asian Games veteran Jinggoy Valmayor, who struck what turned out to be the game-winner three minutes before halftime.

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Ateneo also notched its first win of the season by overcoming last year’s losing finalist, University of Santo Tomas, 1-0, even as La Salle hacked out a 4-0 crushing of National U.

Rookie Leo Carlo Liay scored two minutes into stoppage time to lift Ateneo, which jacked up its tally to four points, counting the scoreless draw against UE last Sunday.

The Tigers sorely missed the services of Patrick O’Neal and Jajomar Valdez, who served suspensions.

“Our goal this season is to make it to the final four and I’m happy that we won against a tough team,” said Ateneo football mentor JP Merida. Cedelf P. Tupas

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