For the first time in their history, the Philippine women’s national football team has won the gold medal in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games — and they got it done in the most dramatic of ways.
The Filipinas outlasted defending champion Vietnam in a heart-stopping penalty shootout, 6-5, to rule the 2025 edition of the tournament on Wednesday evening, December 17, at the Chonburi Stadium in Chonburi, Thailand.
“We never want to end on a loss,” said skipper Hali Long, who extended her record by winning a 101st cap in the final. “We were going to win bronze, or we were going to win gold. We gave ourselves no choice.”
For the second straight match, the Filipinas had to play an additional 30 minutes, and even the extra time was not enough to settle the score between the two finalists, with neither side finding a goal.
The gold medal match went to a penalty shootout, and the Filipinas showed remarkable poise with their first five takers all converting their attempts. Vietnam matched them kick for kick, however, sending the shootout to a sudden death.
Veteran Jackie Sawicki stepped up to bury a clutch penalty, leaving the match at the hands of Filipinas goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel.
McDaniel, who came up with save after save throughout the tournament, rose to the occasion one more time as she blocked the shot of Vietnam’s Trần Thị Thu, before kicking the ball into the stands as her teammates rushed her in celebration.
It was the latest milestone for the Filipinas, a team that has repeatedly written Philippine sporting history in the past few years — including qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 and lifting the AFF Women’s Championship at home in 2022.
The triumph also gave a golden send-off to veteran goal-keeper Inna Palacios, who announced before the match that she is set to retire from the Philippine national women’s football team after many years of service with the program.
This victory is made more special by the tough road that the Filipinas took just to get to the finals. They dropped their tournament opener against Myanmar, putting them in a must-win situation against Vietnam in the group stage.
They stunned the defending champion at the death, 1-0, to keep their campaign alive, then clobbered Malaysia, 6-0, to barge into the semis. There, they had to play the host nation, and endured an exhausting 120-minute battle against Thailand before winning in a penalty shootout to advance to the gold medal match for the first time ever.
The Filipinas also had to make plenty of adjustments after veteran defenders Jessika Cowart and Sofia Wunsch had to be subbed out due to injuries.
Ultimately, the 120 minutes were not enough, and for the second straight match, the Filipinas had to go through a nervy penalty shootout on their way to history. (ABS-CBN News)