MANILA, March 4 -- University of the Philippines banked on rookies Ramil Bation III and Orlan Togores to beat De La Salle University, 3-1, in the UAAP Season 86 men's football tournament at UP Diliman Football Stadium on Sunday night.

Bation delivered an impressive free kick in the 77th minute before Togores lobbed the ball over La Salle goalkeeper Enrico Mangaoang in the 79th to seal the victory.

"One of our objectives is to improve every match," coach Popoy Clarino said. "We took all the things that we needed to improve on from the FEU (Far Eastern University) game and we focused on that during trainings. It's so nice to see all the things that we talked about were covered during this game."

UP is in third place with six points and a...