Ateneo–La Salle rivalry

Seniors' Division

As of 2018, the De La Salle Green Archers has more collegiate championships compared to the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the NCAA^[3] and UAAP combined in both men's division and women's division. La Salle has 171 collegiate titles versus Ateneo with 96 collegiate titles. La Salle also has 8 Overall (General) Collegiate Championships versus Ateneo with 1 Overall (General) Collegiate Championship. This count excludes additional collegiate titles and the 5 Overall (General) Collegiate Championships also won by De La Salle-College of St. Benilde since it participated in the NCAA in 1998.

La Salle leads Ateneo 11–5 in sixteen of the eighteen sports categories in which both teams currently compete. Note that both teams are tied with the number of titles for beach volleyball with one apiece, and both teams have yet to win collegiate championships in Cheerdance.

• Badminton – Ateneo (7) – La Salle (6)
• Baseball – Ateneo (6) – La Salle (4)
• Basketball – Ateneo (25) – La Salle (19)
• Beach Volleyball – Ateneo (1) – La Salle (1)
• Cheerdance – Ateneo (none) – La Salle (none)
• Chess – La Salle (12) – Ateneo (6)
• Fencing – Ateneo (1) – La Salle (none)
• Football – La Salle (34) – Ateneo (13)
• Judo – Ateneo (8) – La Salle (1)
• Poomsae – La Salle (1) – Ateneo (none)
• Softball – La Salle (3) – Ateneo (1)
• Street dance – La Salle (3) – Ateneo (none)
• Swimming – La Salle (16) – Ateneo (9)
• Taekwondo – La Salle (9) – Ateneo (none)
• Table tennis – La Salle (11) – Ateneo (none)
• Track and field – La Salle (13) – Ateneo (9)
• Tennis – La Salle (20) – Ateneo (2)
• Volleyball – La Salle (18) – Ateneo (8)

Overall championship
La Salle leads Ateneo in the number of overall General Championships in the Seniors division, 8–1. Note that all championships listed are NCAA General Championships and UAAP General Championships. La Salle won its first UAAP General Championship in the Seniors Division in 2012–13 season and continued until the following season.^[4]

• La Salle (8) – 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16
• Ateneo (1) – 1968–69

Juniors' Division

As of 2018, the Ateneo Blue Eaglets has more high school titles than the De La Salle Junior Archers in both the NCAA and UAAP combined (La Salle's juniors team was represented first by the De La Salle High School from 1924 to 1968, then La Salle Green Hills from 1969 to 1981, and currently De La Salle-Santiago Zobel School since 1986). Ateneo has won 117 high school titles versus La Salle with 114 titles. La Salle has 10 Overall (General) High School Championships titles versus Ateneo with 4 Overall (General) High School Championships titles.^[3] This count excludes the additional high school titles and the 4 General High School Championships won by La Salle Green Hills after it began to represent De La Salle-College of St. Benilde in the NCAA Juniors division in 1998.

Ateneo leads La Salle 8–5 in thirteen sports categories:

• Baseball – Ateneo (4) – La Salle (3)
• Basketball – Ateneo (30) – La Salle (8)
• Chess – Ateneo (7) – La Salle (4)
• Fencing – Ateneo (2) – La Salle (none)
• Football – La Salle (33) – Ateneo (6)
• Judo – Ateneo (9) – La Salle (none)
• Softball – La Salle (7) – Ateneo (3)
• Swimming – Ateneo (12) – La Salle (11)
• Taekwondo – Ateneo (3) – La Salle (none)
• Table tennis – La Salle (2) – Ateneo (1)
• Track and field – Ateneo (34) – La Salle (23)
• Tennis – La Salle (8) – Ateneo (none)
• Volleyball – La Salle (15) – Ateneo (6)

Overall Championship
La Salle leads Ateneo in Overall (General) High School Championships titles, 10–4. The first two Overall (General) High School Championships titles of La Salle were won by DLSC High School while the next 8 titles were won by La Salle Green Hills. Note that included are NCAA and UAAP general championships.

• La Salle (10) – NCAA 1965–66, 1966–67 (DLSC High School), 1971–72, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81 (LSGH)
• Ateneo (4) – (2) NCAA 1967–68, 1976–77; (2) UAAP 2000–01, 2001–02

Overall

In terms of total college and high school basketball titles won in the NCAA and UAAP, Ateneo leads La Salle, 55–27. In Men's basketball, Ateneo has a total of 23 men's titles whereas La Salle has 14. The Blue Eagles has 14 NCAA men's basketball titles to the Green Archers' 5. In the UAAP, both schools had won 9 titles in the men's division. In juniors' basketball, the Ateneo has 11 NCAA titles and 19 UAAP titles, for a total of 30, whereas La Salle has 6 NCAA titles and 2 UAAP titles, for 8 in total. In women's basketball, both schools have only won titles in the UAAP (the NCAA doesn't have a women's basketball program), where La Salle leads Ateneo, 5–2.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles and De La Salle Green Archers have met in the championships of the NCAA and UAAP at least nine (9) times. The Blue Eagles won the men's basketball title over La Salle in 1958, 1988, 2002, 2008 and 2017 whereas the Green Archers prevailed in 1939, 1974, 2001 and 2016.

In the junior division, the De La Salle Junior Archers defeated the top-seeded Ateneo Blue Eaglets in 2007. In 2009, the Eaglets defeated the top-seeded Junior Archers.

Collegiate Titles of National Scope

In terms of collegiate titles of national scope, Ateneo leads 3 titles to 2. Ateneo won the Collegiate Champions League title in 2007, and won back to back the Philippine Collegiate Championship (PCC) in 2009 and 2010. La Salle won the Philippine Inter-collegiate title in 1988 and the Philippine Collegiate Championship in 2008 with La Salle winning over Ateneo.

Ateneo won the 2007 Collegiate Champions League title against the University of the Visayas Green Lancers, 71–54. The Collegiate Champions League (CCL), was then reformatted and became the Philippine Collegiate Championship (PCC). It is currently the national collegiate basketball championship tournament, sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the country's official basketball federation. College teams from all over the country participate in the tournament. The tournament also has a Sweet 16 similar to the United States' NCAA Basketball Tournament during "March Madness."

The Green Archers won the 2008 PCC title. La Salle defeated the second-seeded NCAA champion San Beda Red Lions and arranged a finals meeting with the top-seeded UAAP champion Ateneo Blue Eagles, who defeated the Letran Knights in the final four. In the championship match, the De La Salle Green Archers prevailed over the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 71–62.

In the 2009 season of the Philippine Collegiate Championship, the Blue Eagles defeated the FEU Tamaraws in three games to clinch their second national title, whereas the Green Archers were eliminated by the Letran Knights in their first game in the round of 16.

In the 2010 season of the Philippine Collegiate Championship, the Blue Eagles defeated the Adamson Falcons in three games to clinch their third and back-to-back national titles, while the Green Archers settled for 3rd-placed beating the UC Webmasters despite having 4 players injured and 10 players intact in the line-up.

Ateneo has also won back-to-back titles in the annual University Games, winning in 2008 and 2009.

Championship Streaks

Ateneo was 3-peat NCAA champion from 1931 through 1933, and its record of 14 collegiate titles remained unsurpassed by any school in the NCAA until 2003. They currently hold the distinction of having the longest UAAP basketball title streak in the Final Four era after winning five straight times from 2008 to 2012.

La Salle became the first school to be three-peat UAAP basketball champions in the both Men's and Women's division in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

Both schools have also managed to post what are regarded as "double championships" by winning both the seniors and juniors titles in the same year. The Ateneo Blue Eagles still have the most number of double titles in NCAA history, with 4 double championships, including the NCAA's second back-to-back double championships in 1975 and 1976 (the first was accomplished by the University of the Philippines in 1925 and 1926).

Ateneo holds the distinction of being the only double three-peat champion in the Senior and Junior levels from 2008 to 2010 whether in the NCAA or the UAAP, and has posted two four-peats and three back-to-back title streaks in the UAAP juniors division.

After winning two championships in 1989 and 1990 in the UAAP, La Salle temporarily gained the upper hand, further dominating in the late 1990s through the turn of the millennium as 4-peat champion from 1998 to 2001.^[1]

La Salle does not have any such streaks in the NCAA, but won back-to-back titles once and also posted a rare four-peat in UAAP men's basketball. The Lady Archers also achieved a 4-peat of their own in 2002. This is currently the longest UAAP women's basketball championship streak in the Final Four era.

La Salle, accomplished the double championship once during its stint in the NCAA and UAAP.

NCAA

In 1939, La Salle defeated Ateneo in both the Seniors and Juniors NCAA Championship. A legend states that the rivalry reputedly started that year when after La Salle defeated Ateneo, then the defending champions, La Salle students threw fried chicken outside the gates of the old Ateneo campus in Manila.^[5] Ateneo and La Salle would not meet in the championship again until 1958 where Ateneo defeated La Salle by a basket in overtime. Another finals meeting of both schools took place in 1974 with La Salle prevailing over Ateneo in the championship. Ateneo and La Salle left the NCAA in 1978 and 1981 respectively after games turned into full-blown riots, with Ateneo leaving after losing the 1978 championship against San Beda in closed doors,^[6] and La Salle after fan disturbance in their 1980 second-round game against Letran.^[7]

UAAP

Ateneo won the championship in 1987 by prevailing over UE in the first head to head championship match up between the two schools. La Salle won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990, and won four straight titles from 1998 to 2001, with La Salle beating Ateneo in the 2001 Finals, capping its 4-peat title run. Ateneo subsequently defeated La Salle in the 2002 championship to end its 14-year title drought. In 2003, Ateneo eliminated La Salle in the semifinals, breaking a streak of La Salle appearances in the finals. La Salle won the 2004 title after eliminating Ateneo in the semifinals, but was stripped off the title when they were suspended for fielding two ineligible players. La Salle swept the UE Red Warriors to win the 2007 title after the suspension, a season that saw them meet the Blue Eagles five times, lose thrice, but win two crucial games including the one that paved the way for a finals appearance. Ateneo defeated La Salle in all four encounters in 2008, including the Finals, thereby dethroning DLSU. Ateneo then went on to win all matches against La Salle on the way to winning a running total of five consecutive UAAP titles, except for a lone La Salle victory in the first round of eliminations in 2010. The two teams most recently met in a Final Four encounter, where the Blue Eagles defeated the Green Archers, eliminating La Salle from contention. With its 2012 title victory, the Ateneo broke its deadlock of UAAP titles with La Salle and exceeded La Salle's championship streak with the longest in the Final Four era, and now has the longest held by only one UAAP school. Ateneo failed to enter the Final Four in 2013 while La Salle won the title for the first time since 2007. Both teams failed to enter the Finals in 2014. In 2015, both teams failed once again to enter the Finals with La Salle missing the Final Four for the first time since 2011, while Ateneo made it to the semifinals but lost to the eventual champions FEU Tamaraws, who also ousted La Salle in their last game (a game in which La Salle needed to win to stay in contention and force a knockout match) for the last Final Four slot in which enabled the erstwhile defending champions NU Bulldogs to grab the #4 position in the playoffs. In 2016 both teams met in the Finals for the first time since 2008 with both schools taking the Top 2 spots at the end of the elimination rounds and having the twice to beat advantage, with La Salle outlasting Adamson in one game, while Ateneo used their twice to beat advantage to take out the defending champions FEU Tamaraws in a hard-fought series with Ateneo winning the second game in an overtime thriller in which both teams did not score more than five points in the extra period. In the finals the Green Archers swept the Blue Eagles to win their 9th title and break the tie among them for the number of UAAP titles. In 2017, both Ateneo and La Salle met once again in the Finals and the first back-to-back Ateneo-La Salle Finals series since 2002 with Ateneo winning this time in a 3-game series that ended their 5-year title drought and dethroned La Salle.

2001 Finals:Four-peat

La Salle was the defending three-time champion, while Ateneo were in a 13-year championship drought. Ateneo started well, but La Salle had a relentless fourth quarter run, capped off by Manny Ramos' insurance free-throws to seal the game with 3.9 seconds left.^[8] At Game 2, Enrico Villanueva scored 22 points to lead the Eagles to a series-extending win. After Mike Cortez tying the game at 72–all, Villanueva passed the ball to teammate Magnum Membrere who scored a three-pointer. On the next possession, Ren-Ren Ritualo failed to answer with a game-tying three of his own to force a sudden-death Game 3, scoring Ateneo's first win against La Salle in the season after three games.^[9] In the deciding game, Carlo Sharma scored a UAAP career-high 22 points, 11 in the final quarter to prevent an Ateneo victory; Ateneo's rookie LA Tenorio had 30 points of his own, but it wasn't enough, as La Salle coach Pumaren remarking that "This was the sweetest of the four championships because we're able to erase the stigma of our 1988 loss to Ateneo."^[10]

2002 Finals: 14-year Ateneo championship drought is over

Prior to the Finals, Ateneo prevented a 14–0 elimination round sweep of La Salle that would have given a bye up to the best-of-3 Finals. Instead, Ateneo defeated La Salle in the elimination round finale 76–63.^[11] La Salle defeated rival University of Santo Tomas (UST), and Ateneo overcame No. 2 seed University of the East (UE) in two games, with the second game ending in a buzzer beater by Gec Chia to push Ateneo into the Finals anew.^[12]

Game 1 ended with Villanueva scoring Ateneo's last ten points, and teammate Larry Fonacier blocking two shots by Mark Cardona that would've forced overtime to give Ateneo a 1–0 series lead. In Game 2, with the Ateneo team noted as being "tense," La Salle had an 18-point lead at halftime, which Ateneo cut down to three, 80–77, but Sharma and Adonis Santa Maria converted crucial free-throws that gave La Salle enough breathing space to force another Game 3. In Game 3, La Salle player Mike Cortez missed 11 of 13 shots, which caused La Salle students and alumni to accuse him of throwing the game, as Ateneo eventually won the title to deny La Salle a fifth-consecutive championship.^[1]

2003–2005: Semifinal meetings

Ateneo and La Salle would play second fiddle to Far Eastern University (FEU) from 2003 to 2005, with the Tamaraws defeating Ateneo in 2003, losing to La Salle in 2004 and defeating La Salle in 2005.

Along the way, the two teams met in the semifinals, where the higher seed gets the twice-to-beat advantage. In 2003, La Salle forced No. 1 seed Ateneo into a rubber match after a 76–72 overtime win, with the game being halted after a brawl erupted between the two teams. With Ateneo's LA Tenorio and La Salle's Ryan Araña suspended for the deciding game, Ateneo eliminated La Salle from Finals contention in the deciding game with a 74–68 triumph.

In 2004, La Salle and Ateneo finished the elimination round tied for second place, so a playoff game was played to determine which team gets the twice-to-beat advantage. La Salle won the game, and ended Ateneo's season in the semifinals, to face FEU in the Finals. La Salle would win in three games to deny FEU which had defeated Ateneo a season before, a back-to-back championship run.

In 2005, three teams, La Salle, Ateneo and UE, were all tied for second place. La Salle won the tiebreaker with a superior point differential on games played by the three teams, causing Ateneo and UE to play for the right to face La Salle with the twice-to-win disadvantage in which the Eagles won. However, La Salle defeated Ateneo in the semifinals to clinch another Finals appearance against FEU.

2006: La Salle suspension

After FEU swept La Salle in the 2005 championship series, La Salle admitted it fielded two ineligible players from 2003 to 2005, albeit it claimed not to be aware of their ineligibility which caused them to return the 2005 runner-up trophy and the 2004 championship trophy they won against FEU (The league would later award FEU the trophy). The league suspended La Salle in 2006 for a year due to negligence, with all of their games during that period also forfeited. Ateneo faced UST in the 2006 Finals, a series UST won in three games.

2007: "Two is greater than three"

Upon their return in 2007, UE swept the elimination round 14–0, with their last game against La Salle going into overtime with the Warriors still prevailing. With Ateneo also losing their last game, the two teams were again tied for second place, and La Salle won the playoff game to clinch the twice-to-beat advantage. Prior to this, Ateneo won the two elimination round games against La Salle.

Unlike earlier match-ups where the team with the advantage won the first game, Ateneo won the first game, with Chris Tiu playing pivotal roles in crunch time where he scored the winning lay-up with 7.3 seconds remaining to force a deciding game.^[13] In their fifth meeting of the season, Pocholo Villanueva scored a three-pointer to add La Salle's lead to nine with less than three minutes in the game left. After an Ateneo 6–2 run, Villanueva scored a jump-shot anew, padding the lead to seven. After Ford Arao later cut the lead to five, La Salle's OJ Cua missed two free-throws with 23.9 seconds remaining. Chris Tiu passed the ball to Nonoy Baclao who scored a three-pointer to cut the lead to two, but JV Casio converted both of his free-throws with 4 seconds left to punch La Salle's ticket to the Finals.^[13] This had been the only time Ateneo and La Salle played for five games in a season without both the teams advancing to the Finals.

La Salle would eventually sweep UE in the Finals 2–0 to cap their seventh men's basketball championship. After the season, La Salle coach Franz Pumaren remarked that "This is the only time that two is greater than three, they beat us three times, but we beat them when it counted the most."^[14]

2008 Finals: Double Championship

Ateneo would later claim their fourth UAAP title in 2008 against defending champions La Salle by sweeping the finals series 2–0. In Game 1, Rabeh Al-Hussaini scored 31 points to lead Ateneo to a win.^[15] In Game 2, Ateneo led by 15 points at halftime, but La Salle came back cutting the lead to three, 50–47 at the end of the third quarter. However, La Salle forward Rico Maierhofer was ejected just before the end of the third after the officials said that he flashed the dirty finger, although Maierhofer denied the charge. A La Salle scoring drought saw the lead balloon to eight in the last two minutes, and Ateneo never looked back after a Jai Reyes three-point play to secure Ateneo's fourth UAAP men's basketball title.^[16]

2009-12: Ateneo championships

La Salle paraded several rookies for the 2009 season, while Ateneo emerged with only Chris Tiu as the major graduating player. With these conditions, the first Ateneo–La Salle game came at the heels of former President Corazon Aquino's death, and as a result, spectators wore yellow as a sign for respect for Aquino. Ateneo outlasted La Salle in overtime to end the first round with a solitary loss. The two teams met a week later, but this time Ateneo had a big enough lead to prevent La Salle from catching up. Ateneo qualified for the semifinals as the No. 1 seed, eventually winning the championship; La Salle missed out on the Final Four on the final day after being defeated by NU. The 2009 season would be the first time Ateneo and La Salle would not meet in the playoffs since 2001, not including their Finals encounter in 2008 and the DLSU suspension in 2006.

In 2010, parading some new players and an improved set of veterans, the Green Archers defeated the Blue Eagles, 66–63, with the Blue Eagles still feeling the loss of three of the previous season's starters and sophomore guard Sam Marata shooting hot in the end game. This was the first official win of the Green Archers against the Blue Eagles in UAAP action since 2007. In the second round encounter, the Ateneo Blue Eagles were threatened with falling into a tie in the standings had they lost to DLSU. After falling behind 4–9, the Blue Eagles went on a 10–0 scoring run to take a double digit lead, and went on to defeat the Archers decisively, 74–57.

2010 was the second straight year that Ateneo and DLSU would not meet in a post eliminations series. DLSU managed to reach the Final Four after missing it in the previous season, but fell to the top-seeded FEU Tamaraws in overtime. The Blue Eagles defeated the Adamson Falcons in the Final Four, and went on to sweep the Tamaraws for their third consecutive title despite not having any player in the Mythical Team.

In 2011, the Ateneo Blue Eagles team headlined by two rookies defeated DLSU again in both of their elimination matches. It is also the third straight year that Ateneo and DLSU would not meet in a post elimination series, since the DLSU failed to qualify once again for the Final Four. The Ateneo was the top-seeded team in the semifinals and defeated the UST Growling Tigers in one game. The Blue Eagles then proceeded to sweep the finals series against the FEU Tamaraws, thus achieving its own four-peat.

Prior to the start of the 2012 season, Norman Black announced that this would be his last season as head coach of the Ateneo. La Salle, on the other hand, had a rookie coach in Gee Abanilla. The two schools met thrice that season- twice in the elimination and once in the semi-finals with Ateneo winning all of the games. A few days prior to the Final 4 match between Ateneo and La Salle, the Blue Eagle's patron, Manny Pangilinan, announced that he would be pulling out his support from the school. Despite the controversy, Ateneo eventually won its fifth consecutive title, facing UST in the finals.

2013: The End of an Era for Ateneo

Upon the departure of Norman Black, Dolreich "Bo" Perasol, a former member of the University of the Philippines men's basketball team and a seasoned Philippine Basketball Association head coach, was tapped by Ateneo as head coach of the Blue Eagles. The entry of Perasol, who was rumored to be tapped as team consultant of the UP Fighting Maroons prior to his appointment as Ateneo head coach, also heralded the return of Manny Pangilinan as the Blue Eagles' main patron. Joining Ateneo men's basketball team was Filipino-American forward Chris Newsome.

Over at La Salle, a series of reshuffles within and outside of the team resulted to the appointment of then assistant coach Juno Sauler as the head coach of the Green Archers. Joining the De La Salle Green Archers coaching staff prior to the start of the 2013-2014 UAAP season was Allan Caidic, who took on the chores of shooting coach. Filipino-American forwards Jason Perkins and Matthew Salem became a part of team roster, which had to adjust to the loss of resident players Yutien Andrada, Mac Tallo, Fonzo Gotladera and Papot Paredes.

For the first time since 2005, La Salle was able to sweep Ateneo during the elimination round. During their first round meeting at the Mall of Asia Arena last July 7, 2013, the Green Archers, banking on the heroics of combo guard Almond Vosotros and center Arnold Van Opstal, defeated the Blue Eagles, 82-73, resulting to Ateneo's third straight loss to start the season. The second round meeting, which was held at the Araneta Coliseum last September 1, 2013, was tightly contested by Ateneo and La Salle, with the Green Archers winning over the Blue Eagles, 66-64, after sophomore forward Jeron Teng sank a floater with only two seconds left in the shot clock.

Toward the end of the second round Ateneo-La Salle game, Perasol was involved in a scuffle with JJ Atayde, an alumnus of La Salle, after the former got irked with the latter's heckling. The incident caused the UAAP Board to penalize Perasol with a one-game suspension and Atayde with a season-wide ban from watching games. Controversy further ensued after Perasol violated his one-game suspension by watching from inside the Ateneo dugout during the Blue Eagles' September 8, 2013 game against the UE Red Warriors, forcing UE team officials to file an inquiry before the UAAP Board. The UAAP Board acted on UE's request for an inquiry, ordering Perasol to serve his one-game suspension during Ateneo's September 18, 2013 game against the UST Growling Tigers.

Ateneo, with Perasol serving his one-game suspension, was eventually defeated by UST, 74–82, causing the Blue Eagles to not only be dethroned as UAAP Men's Basketball Champions after five straight seasons but to also miss Final Four contention for the first time since 1998.

La Salle, after a disastrous 3–4 finish during the first round of elimination games, swept the second round and ended the elimination round at 10–4, forcing a three-way tie for the top spot alongside the NU Bulldogs and the FEU Tamaraws. Due to having the highest quotient, NU took the Number One spot with twice-to-beat advantage and faced the UST in the Final Four, with the Growling Tigers defeating the Bulldogs in two games. On the other hand, La Salle and FEU faced each other twice, the first meeting being a rubber match game for the Number Two spot and the twice-to-beat advantage and the second being the formal Final Four game, with the Green Archers winning on both occasions and entering the Finals for the first time since UAAP Season 71.

During the Finals series, La Salle defeated UST in three games to win the UAAP Season 76 Men's Basketball Championship title.

2016: Mayhem

In 2016, La Salle was able to utilize center Ben Mbala, and tapped the services of former Letran Knights coach Aldin Ayo while Ateneo was on a rebuilding stage after the graduation of their top 2 scorers in Kiefer Ravena and Von Pessumal though they were able to get the services of former Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin. The Green Archers finished the elimination round as the top seed with a 13-1 record with Ateneo coming in second with a 10-4 win-loss record exceeding all expectations from them. The only loss of the Green Archers came at the hands of their archivals, the Ateneo Blue Eagles during the second to the last game of the elimination round. Coming into Final Four both teams have a twice-to-beat advantage with La Salle defeating Adamson in just one game while Ateneo had to utilized their twice-to-beat incentives against FEU. After 8 years, Ateneo and La Salle faced off in the finals, with La Salle emerging as the champion of Season 79 after sweeping Ateneo in the Finals.^[17][18]

2017: Return of the King

The following year, in Season 80, the Ateneo Blue Eagles won their first 13 games of the elimination round. Their bid for a sweep was denied by the De La Salle Green Archers. In the Final Four matches, La Salle went on to defeat the Adamson Falcons, while the Blue Eagles lost the first game to the FEU Tamaraws, their second loss of the season. Ateneo prevailed over FEU in the decider and faced La Salle in the championship series. The Blue Eagles took Game One, 76-70, whereas the Green Archers rallied from 21 points down to take Game 2, 92-83. In Game 3, the Blue Eagles led by as much as 10 points in order to defeat La Salle, 88-86, and retake the men's basketball championship.^[19]

Juniors' basketball rivalry

The two universities are also represented in the high school level, with the Ateneo de Manila High School and La Salle Green Hills (1968–1981), De La Salle Zobel (1986–present). And a similar rivalry, although on much lesser scale, currently exists. When La Salle Green Hills used to be the Juniors' team of the Green Archers in the NCAA though, the rivalry between the Ateneo and La Salle in the high school level was much stronger, considering that both the Ateneo High School and the LSGH High School are both all-male schools, igniting a huge rumble in 1978. But this rivalry has since faded, with AHS being in the UAAP and LSGH staying in the NCAA. Still, the remnants of this rivalry live on in the UAAP with LSGH's sister school De La Salle-Santiago Zobel School, the juniors representative of De La Salle University in the UAAP, taking its place.

In Juniors basketball, the Ateneo has 11 NCAA titles and 18 UAAP titles, for a total of 29, whereas La Salle has 6 NCAA titles and 2 UAAP titles, for 8 total.

La Salle Greenies defeated the Ateneo Blue Eaglets in the 1939 NCAA Junior Championship. Ateneo High School and De La Salle Santiago Zobel School (DLSZ) met twice in the UAAP juniors' basketball finals; in 2007 in which DLSZ won in two games dethroning the Eaglets in the process, and in 2009 in which the Blue Eaglets won the best-of-three series, 2–1. In addition, the Junior Archers weren't able to defend their 2005 championship due to their suspension along with their seniors' counterparts.^[20]

Philippine University Games

Ateneo has won the basketball crown of the Unigames 3 times (2008, 2009, and 2011). La Salle has won it once (1998).^[21]

National Seniors Open championship

The National Seniors Open was a tournament participated by top commercial (MICAA) and collegiate teams in the country. La Salle won the 1939 and 1949 Championships.^[22][23][24] Ateneo has not won a National Seniors Open championship.

National Open

La Salle also won the National Open in 1983.^[25]

UAAP Season 74 Women's Volleyball Finals

For the first time in UAAP history, Ateneo and La Salle met each other at the UAAP Season 74 women's volleyball finals. The De La Salle Lady Spikers automatically entered the finals with a thrice-to-beat advantage after sweeping the elimination round. On the other hand, the Ateneo Lady Eagles, consistently ranked second throughout much of the elimination round, defeated the third-seeded (and previous season's runner-up) UST Tigresses in the semifinals, and entered the finals for the first time since Ateneo De Manila University's 1978 admission into the UAAP.

The De La Salle Lady Spikers defeated the Ateneo Lady Eagles in three games to win their 7th UAAP women's volleyball championship title. Game One of the Finals was won by Ateneo in four sets but Games Two and Three of the series were won by La Salle, with the DLSU Lady Spikers beating the Ateneo Lady Spikers in four sets during Game Two and in three sets during Game Three. Abigail Maraño of La Salle was named as Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Season, while then-graduating La Salle team captain Charleen Cruz was named as Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second consecutive season.

UAAP Season 75 Women's Volleyball Finals

Ateneo and La Salle faced each other once again during the UAAP Season 75 women's volleyball finals after the De La Salle Lady Spikers defeated the NU Lady Bulldogs and the Ateneo Lady Eagles defeated the Adamson Lady Falcons during the Final Four matches that were held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on February 23, 2013.

The UAAP Season 75 women's volleyball finals was the league's first volleyball finals series to be played at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and the Mall of Asia Arena. Game One of the Ateneo-La Salle finals was played before a crowd of 17,342 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on March 2, 2013. The Lady Spikers posed a comeback win over the Lady Eagles in five sets, 20–25, 17–25, 25–22, 25–22, 15–6.

Prior to Game Two of the finals, held at the Mall of Asia Arena on March 6, 2013, team captain Abigail Maraño and teammate Victonara Galang were named co-Most Valuable Players (MVPs) of the Season. With the game attended by 18,779 paying patrons, La Salle swept Ateneo in Game Two, 25–23, 25–20, 25–16, to finish the series in two games and win their third consecutive (and 8th overall) UAAP women's volleyball championship title. Then-graduating La Salle player Michele Gumabao was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Finals.

UAAP Season 76 Women's Volleyball Finals

For the third time, Ateneo and La Salle faced each other during UAAP Season 76 women's volleyball finals. The De La Salle Lady Spikers automatically entered the finals with a thrice-to-beat advantage after sweeping the elimination round. On the other hand, the Ateneo Lady Eagles, under new head coach Anusorn "Tai" Bundit, were able to reach the finals after winning knockout matches against fourth-seeded Adamson Lady Falcons and then second-seeded, twice-to-beat NU Lady Bulldogs under the stepladder format.

Game One of the Finals, which was held on March 5, 2014, was won by Ateneo in four sets, 17–25, 25–23, 25–13, 25–20. Three days later, on March 8, 2014, La Salle bounced back in Game Two and defeated Ateneo in four sets, 25–14, 25–20, 19–25, 26–24. The first two games of the Finals were held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The venue of the remaining games of the Finals shifted from the Smart Araneta Coliseum to the Mall of Asia Arena. In Game Three, which was held on March 12, 2014, Ateneo defeated La Salle in five sets in front of the 18,095-strong crowd, 25–21, 25–23, 18–25, 16–25, 17–15, to force a winner-take-all title match on March 15, 2014. As a result, the UAAP Season 76 women's volleyball finals series became the league's longest championship series in any sport, and the first to last up to four games (in a best-of-five finals series format with a 1–0 advantage for any team). In Game Four, the Ateneo Lady Eagles swept the De La Salle Lady Spikers, 25–23, 26–24, 25–21, to deny La Salle's four-peat championship bid and win their first UAAP women's volleyball championship title at the Mall of Asia Arena after a 21,314-strong audience.

Ateneo's team captain Alyssa Valdez was named as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Season and of the Finals, and became the first UAAP athlete to win at least 4 awards in a single season (including awards for the Season's Best Scorer and Best Server categories).

UAAP Season 77 Women's Volleyball Finals

For the fourth time, Ateneo and La Salle faced each other during UAAP Season 77 women's volleyball finals. For the first time in UAAP history, the Ateneo Lady Eagles defeated the De La Salle Lady Spikers twice during the elimination rounds, and entered the finals with the thrice-to-beat advantage after amassing a 14–0 eliminations sweeps record. On the other hand, the second-seeded De La Salle Lady Spikers suffered their first defeat from a non-Ateneo team in the tournament (since UST Tigresses' shocking five-set season-opening win against DLSU in Season 75) during Game One against third-seeded NU Bulldogs in the semifinals (in straight sets), but recovered in Game Two in four sets at the expense of then La Salle's Team Captain Victonara Galang's post-season injury (which sidelined her from playing for Season 77 Finals).

Game One of the Finals, which was held on March 11, 2015 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in front of 18,363 fans, was won by Ateneo in straight sets, 25–18, 25–19, 25–19. Three days later, on March 14, 2015, watched by 20,705 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena, Ateneo swept La Salle again in straight sets, 25–22, 25–17, 25–23, becoming the league's first ever overall volleyball varsity team to achieve a 16–0 perfect season (eliminations round up to the championship series) record and defeated La Salle for the second consecutive season to win the UAAP Season 77 volleyball championship title. Ateneo team captain Alyssa Valdez was named back-to-back Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Season, while Amy Ahomiro won the award as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Finals.

UAAP Season 78 Women's Volleyball Finals

For the fifth time, Ateneo and La Salle faced each other during UAAP Season 78 women's volleyball finals. During the first round of the eliminations, the eventually second-seeded DLSU Lady Spikers swept the season's top-seeded ADMU Lady Eagles in three straight sets to deny them a sweep of the elimination round and revert the tournament to a Regular Final Four format for the first time since Season 75. In the second round, however, Ateneo recovered in a five-set comeback win to seal their top-seed position. After the eliminations, Ateneo Lady Eagles swept the UP Lady Maroons during their comeback Final Four appearance after 13 years in three straight sets (the first non-DLSU team to defeat them as UAAP women's volleyball champions) in the semifinals in a return trip to the finals for fifth consecutive UAAP Finals appearance, while the De La Salle Lady Spikers recovered from a shocking five-set loss in Game 1 of their Final Four match-up against the third-seeded FEU Lady Tamaraws to sweep their opponents in do-or-die Game 2 and book their eighth consecutive UAAP Finals appearance.

The UAAP Season 78 women's volleyball finals became the first championship series since the DLSU-FEU matchup in Season 71 to last up to three games under such tournament division (in a best-of-three finals series format). Game One of the Finals, which was held on April 23, 2016 and watched by 19,921 fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, was won by La Salle in straight sets, 25–22, 25–22, 25–21. Four days later, on April 27, 2016, Ateneo posed a come-from-behind win against La Salle in Game Two in five sets, 18–25, 26–28, 25–17, 25–16, 15–11, in front of the 20,541-strong crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena to force a winner-take-all match on April 30, 2016. La Salle, however, recovered in four sets, 19–25, 25–21, 25–16, 25–16 in Game Three to deny Ateneo's three-peat championship bid and win their ninth overall UAAP women's volleyball championship title (and first since Season 75) in front of a record 22,858-strong crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Graduating Ateneo Lady Eagles' team captain Alyssa Valdez earned her third straight Season Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, becoming the first UAAP women's volleyball athlete to earn three consecutive MVP awards since Monica Aleta from FEU from Seasons 63 to 65. Meanwhile, Kim Kianna Dy of the De La Salle Lady Spikers was hailed as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Finals.

UAAP Season 79 Women's Volleyball Finals

For the sixth time, Ateneo and La Salle faced each other during UAAP Season 79 women's volleyball finals. During the first round of eliminations, the defending champions (and eventually second-seeded) De La Salle Lady Spikers suffered a shock straight sets loss to UP Lady Maroons but recovered in the second round of eliminations against the same team with another straight sets victory. Meanwhile, the Ateneo Lady Eagles suffered losses only to NU Lady Bulldogs twice in the elimination rounds but swept De La Salle Lady Spikers in the elimination rounds to secure the top seed for this season. In the semifinal round, the De La Salle Lady Spikers won over the third-seeded UST Tigressesduring the latter's comeback Final Four appearance after 5 years in four sets to book their (Final Four era) league-record ninth consecutive UAAP Finals appearance, while the Ateneo Lady Eagles also won against the fourth-seeded FEU Lady Tamaraws in four sets to book their sixth consecutive UAAP Finals appearance.

Game One of the Finals was held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on May 2, 2017 in front of 13,468 fans. The De La Salle Lady Spikers recorded their first victory against Ateneo Lady Eagles during this game for this season in four sets, 21–25, 29–27, 25–22 and 25–20. Game Two of the Finals was held again at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on May 6, 2017 in front of 20,860 fans. The De La Salle Lady Spikers won against Ateneo Lady Eagles in five sets, 19–25, 25–14, 18–25, 25–18 and 15–10, to finish the series in two games and earn their second consecutive (and tenth overall) UAAP women's volleyball title.

La Salle's Mary Joy Baron and Desiree Cheng were named as Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Season and of the Finals, respectively.

Season 79 would eventually be the last of the string of 6 Ateneo-La Salle matchups in UAAP women's volleyball finals since Season 74, after the Lady Eagles were booted out from finals contention in Season 80 as the third-seeded team by that season's hosting school and second-seeded team FEU Lady Tamaraws to face the top-seeded De La Salle Lady Spikers in the latter's tenth consecutive UAAP Finals appearance in 2018, and the first all-green (DLSU-FEU) UAAP women's volleyball finals matchup since Season 71.

Women's Volleyball Tournament

Football (soccer)

Football, the most popular sport in the world,^[27] was also reported to be the top sport in the Philippines from the 1920s, 1930s, and shortly after World War II.^[28] In terms of the total number of collegiate and high school titles in the NCAA and UAAP combined La Salle leads Ateneo 67–19.

La Salle has the most number of collegiate championships in NCAA history with 21 versus Ateneo with 6.^[3] The Green Achers were 9-peat champions from 1932 through 1940. In the UAAP La Salle also leads with a combined 13 titles, made up of 3 Men's and 10 Women's titles, versus Ateneo's 7 Men's titles. The Ateneo Men's football team were 3-peat champions twice in the UAAP, from 1998 through 2001 and 2003 through 2005.

In the NCAA Junior division La Salle has 30 titles versus Ateneo's 3 titles. La Salle Junior Archers were twice 5-peat champions from 1937 through 1941 and 1971 through 1976. Both high schools have 3 titles apiece in the UAAP.

For the De La Salle Zobel Men's football team; they have maintained 5 years of high school football championships in the RIFA cup 1 and 2 where Ateneo was not successful in winning any match against De La Salle Zobel which totaled 9 championship titles from 2001 to 2005. From 2001 to 2005, De La Salle Zobel were RIFA 1 and 2 champions 9 times, most of them back to back champions in every year. The only loss La Salle Zobel encountered was a loss to Xavier high school during the RIFA 2 championship in 2004.

In the inaugural UAAP Juniors Football Championship in 2007–08, De La Salle Zobel won the demonstration championship. Ateneo won the demonstration championship the following year. In 2009–10, Ateneo won the first official UAAP Juniors Football Championship.

Badminton

Ateneo has 7 titles whereas La Salle has 6 in terms of total seniors' badminton collegiate championships. The last men's badminton crown for La Salle came in 2007 and for Ateneo in 2013. Both schools have had fairly strong teams over a number of years in collegiate badminton.

Taekwondo

In another popular collegiate sport, taekwondo, La Salle has 9 collegiate titles whereas Ateneo has no titles to date.

Judo

In judo, Ateneo has the upper hand with 8 collegiate titles while La Salle has 1. La Salle almost won their first Judo championships in Season 71 with 3 gold medals and the Ateneo with 2. Ateneo was able to clinch championships with bronze medals that boosted them to the overall championship.

In 2010, the Ateneo Blue Judokas won their third straight judo title in UAAP Judo, together with the Ateneo High School Judokas, that won their fifth straight title.

Swimming

La Salle has 16 collegiate swimming titles versus Ateneo with 9 swimming titles. La Salle was 3-peat champion in the Men's division in 2000, 2001, and 2002 as well as 2-peat champion in the Women's division in 2002 and 2003. Ateneo won both Men's and Women's titles in UAAP Seasons 77, 78 and 80.

Baseball

In baseball, Ateneo leads La Salle 6–4. Prior to Ateneo's 10-year curse, in 1991, La Salle lost to Ateneo 10–5 for Ateneo's last victory before the infamous losing streak. It took 13 years before Ateneo could beat La Salle when in 2004, Johnel Clemente's game-winning RBI single off La Salle pitcher Angel Gabriel nailed Ateneo's victory, 9–8. In 2006, Ateneo handed La Salle its first humiliating 10-run loss, 17–7, on Jonathan Sibal's 2-RBI single off pitcher Jeff Ardio which ended the game prematurely at the 8th inning (mercy rule). La Salle actually led 7–4 in the 4th inning before Ateneo exploded for 9 runs and put the game out of reach. In 2009, Ateneo and La Salle combined for what may be the highest scoring game in UAAP Baseball history when Ateneo defeated La Salle, 27–14. The most recent championship meeting between the two teams was in UAAP Season 78, where La Salle dethroned Ateneo who were the 3-peat defending champions.

NCAA Results

UAAP Results

Final Four Rankings

For comparison, these are the rankings of these two teams since the Final Four format was introduced.

  Finished as the champion
  Finished as the 1st runner-up
  Finished as the 2nd runner-up
  Finished as the 3rd runner-up
  Suspended

a.^ De La Salle admitted to have unknowingly fielded two ineligible players for the previous 3 years, 2003–2005. However, the admission was made months after learning about the ineligibility. The UAAP Board forfeited their 2004–05 championship title and had to return their trophy. As a result, FEU was awarded the men's basketball championship for the 2004–2005 season. De La Salle team standings from 2003–2005 were revoked and De La Salle was suspended in the 2006–07 season from all UAAP events.^[33]