CHONBURI – The young guns of the Philippine women’s team are earning their stripes in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games here.

SEAG debutant Mallie Ramirez, only 21, has emerged as the Filipinas’ top scorer in the meet so far, putting them on the board in their 1-2 opening loss to Myanmar then firing the marginal goal in their 1-0 bounce-back win over defending champion Vietnam to keep their semifinal hopes alive.

Jael Marie Guy and Alexa Pino, a pair of 18 year olds, earned their starts in the Philippine attack line against the Vietnamese and held their own. Isabella Pasion, 19, is also getting raves for her strong performance, too.

“I’m very proud of all the girls. We have started with three young players up front tonight (versus Vietnam) – Mallie, Jael and Pino – and they fought very hard to get the result altogether along with our experienced players,” said Filipinas coach Mark Torcaso.

“Bella has been an absolute rock for us in our last seven, eight international matches. She fights so hard for the country and she’s the most aggressive player that I’ve coached,” he said of Pasion, who made a big defensive play against Vietnam.

Torcaso said the emergence of the youth brigade augurs well for the program down the road.

“There’s a good group of players here for the future of our country. We have a number of 18 to 23 year olds here in this group and it’s an exciting time for our country, not just for the Asian Cup but for beyond,” said the Australian mentor.

“And I’m excited I’m with them right now and I hope we get to the next part of the competition because I believe they will be very tough to beat,” he added.