LOS BAÑOS, LAGUNA — One National Capital Region team made a grand exit from the competition while its brother team  advanced to the next stage of the competition.

NCR Team A, coached by Anto Gonzales, showed what it could do given enough time and preparation as it ousted Laguna, 3-0 over at the UP-Los Baños pitch. It was a king-sized upset considering that NCR were opening day 7-nil losers to Iloilo and on the business end of a 4-nil thrashing by Davao in the second day of the Group A quarterfinals of the PFF Suzuki U-23 National Cup.

Laguna in the meantime drew 2-2 with Davao and 1-1 with Ilo-ilo. A win, especially by a huge margin would have been enough to send them through. Unfortunately, they were overconfident while NCR played with a purpose and a cohesiveness not seen in the first two matches.

Greggy Yang opened the scoring for NCR with a set piece that beat Davao keeper RS Mantos in the 7th minute. Arturo Enriquez added a second in the 34th minute while striker Anton Amistoso closed out the scoring in the 67th minute.

Iloilo topped Group A with a 4-1 win over Davao which finished second in the group and will also advance to the semifinals that will be played in Barotac Nuevo next weekend.