HiFL: UNN Lions Win, UNILAG Marines Draw First Leg

Quarter-final games in the ongoing Higher Institutions Football League (HiFL) kicked off to an interesting beginning with games across four centres in the country.

In Lagos, the UNILAG Marines played a goalless draw with the AAUA Luminaries from Akungba. The game which was played at the Lagos State University Sports Complex lived up to its billing with several goal mouth squabbles.

Goalkeeper of the Luminaries, Isaac Phillip put up a superlative performance to deter the striking duo of Onitolo Jamiu and Salau Opeyemi of the Marines.

The Luminaries had a goal ruled out in the 60th minute for off-side while Opeyemi of the Marines also hit the upright late in the second half as Abdul-Khalil Nurudeen of the AAUA Luminaries was voted as the StanbicIBTC Man-of-the-Match.

Meanwhile, in Enugu, UNN Lions defeated UNIBEN Royals 2-0 in a game played at the University of Nigeria Sports Complex. Stanbic Man-of-the-Match, Anichebe Elvis scored a brace for the Lions in the 37th and 52nd minutes. The high scoring Royals which knocked out defending champions UNICAL Malabites could however do nothing against the resolute defense of the Lions.

In Markurdi, 2018 champions UAM Tillers had a narrow 1-0 win over the UNIMAID Desert Warriors from the 84th minute Aogo Okwupa. The Priscilla Vande led Tillers laboured to break a determined defense line of the Desert Warriors which ended the Round of 16 as the highest-scoring team.

In Ilorin, the game between UNILORIN Warriors and the FUTMinna Transformers ended in a goalless draw. The Warriors were profligate in front of the goal as they lost so many scoring chances and would have lost the game if the Transformers have not had their goal ruled out for an infraction.

In his reaction to the results from across the centres, Chief Strategy Officers of Pace Sports, Goodness Onyejiaku expressed delight at the level of sportsmanship among the teams while also appreciating the sponsors for their commitment to youth development in Nigeria. HiFL is organized by Pace Sports and the Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) and supported by StanbicIbtc, Nivea Men, Bold and Minimie