MANILA, Philippines – Sarina Bolden achieved another individual milestone on Sunday, July 10, as she grabbed a second international hat trick to help the Philippine women’s football team clinch a semifinal berth in the AFF Women’s Championship.

“Really special, it’s not everyday you get a hat trick at home, in your home country in the Philippines so I’m really proud of that,” shared the 26-year-old forward after the Philippines’ come-from-behind win over Indonesia, 4-1, in a pivotal group stage match.

“I’m really proud of my teammates for not giving up, bouncing back like coach said and we all just fought to the end so I’m really proud, really happy for that, but I know we can do more.”

After going down 0-1 in the first half, the Philippines staged a magnificent comeback as Tahnai Annis and Bolden led the charge after the break. 

Bolden recorded her goals at the 57’, 63’, and 66’ minute marks to not only send the Philippines to a convincing victory, but also propel the team to a second consecutive semifinal appearance in the regional tournament.

“I really take pride in it and I really couldn’t do it alone. Those were great balls that were played into me,” the hat-trick hero said as she praised the wonderful passes of Sara Eggesvik, Jaclyn Sawicki, and Katrina Guillou.

“Like the coach has been preaching, ‘composure, composure’. I could’ve had two more, five, six, seven, but you know, I’m happy with the ones that I did finish and I’m just hungry for the ones that I missed.”

Bolden also credited the team staff and the fans who showed up to cheer at the stadium.

“Again, I couldn’t do that without the team. I couldn’t do that without the staff that we have, motivating us, supporting us, reminding us to stick to our principles,” she said.

“It’s just a really great feeling and again, I feed off that crowd, we all feed off that crowd so it’s even more special doing it in the Philippines.”

Philippine head coach Alen Stajcic said he was happy for Bolden “on an individual level,” but still emphasized on the performance of his team.

“I don’t really care who scores the goals over the last three or four matches, I think we’ve had different scorers for every goal so you know, I don’t go home and count who scored the goals,” said Stajcic.

“It doesn’t matter to me as long as we’re all in good positions and ready to capitalize on the work that we do.”

The positioning of his players have been spot on, at least in the first four matches, as the Philippines have eight different scorers from their competition tally of 16 goals.

Stajcic admits he puts a little bit of pressure on Bolden to be the team’s leading scorer.

“She’s our No. 9, she’s our talisman. I think she’s got so much more in her tank,” he said.

“She can really be one of the world-class players in our group if she keeps working hard and keeps improving,” said the former Australia national team head coach.

Bolden now has a total of five goals in the tournament to lead the Philippines in scoring. She also netted a goal in their victories over Singapore and Australia last week.

Bolden can add more to her tally on Tuesday, July 12, as the Filipinas take on Thailand for its last match in the group stage. – Rappler.com