The Philippine women’s ice hockey team found their rhythm late offensively to take a dominant win over Singapore in the SEA Games 2025 semifinals.
BANGKOK — The Philippines is headed to the first-ever women’s ice hockey final in SEA Games after they drubbed Singapore, 6-2, in their semifinal match at the Thailand International Ice Hockey Arena here on Wednesday morning, December 17.
The Filipinas could not find the mark early as things were level, 2-all, in the third period after Kiarra Chin netted the equalizer at 55:04.
But the second-seeded Philippines were quick to pull ahead anew, scoring two goals in quick succession in a span of two minutes courtesy of Jasmin Alcido and skipper Bianca Cuevas. After 57 minutes of play, the Philippines doubled up on Singapore, 4-2.
"When we finally got that third goal to give us a lead, I knew we couldn't put our foot off the pedal. We had to keep going," Cuevas told Cignal's Dyp Dypiangco.
From then on, it was an onslaught for the Philippines who scored twice more to reach the final score.
Alcido netted her second goal at the 57:27 minute while Kathleen Tan added another insurance goal at 58:03.
Despite the big win late, the Philippines fell early, 0-1, as Tiffany Yeoh netted the game’s first goal after 11:28 in the first period.
"Sometimes we need that wake-up call. When they score, that's when we dig deeper, go even harder. We scored and we kept going," Cuevas said. "Once we have that momentum, we can't stop. That was good. We just wanted to finish strong."
Illeana Venice netted the equalizer at 16:51 before Danielle Imperial scored the goal to get the Philippines ahead, at the 17:31 mark.
The Philippines will thus fight for the gold against the winner of the other semifinal between host country Thailand and Malaysia. Thailand won their round-robin match with a whopping, 18-0 scoreline.
The Philippines also faltered against Thailand in their previous encounter, 13-0.
The men’s team plays for a chance to get into the finals later today when they face Thailand anew at 8:30 p.m., local time. They fell 8-0 against the Thais in their Group A game.
(With reports from Dyp Dypiangco/Cignal)
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.