The Eagles lose 1-0 to Holy Names, but beats Westminster 3-1

The Biola men’s soccer team split their pair of weekend games at The Master’s College Tournament bringing them to 4-1 on the season. Their first game against the Holy Names University Hawks on Friday, Sept. 9 was a nail-biter that the Eagles lost 1-0 in overtime. On Saturday, Sept. 10 Biola bounced back with a 3-1 win over Westminster College.

Throughout regulation the Eagles were attacking the Hawks’ side of the field, forcing their keeper, sophomore Mathias Spinnars, to make save after save. The aggressive Eagles outshot the Hawks 23-5 in regulation, but it was the one shot in overtime that decided the game.

“The difference always in a result is the ability of one player to score versus the others’ inability to score,” head coach Bryan Kuderman said. “In this game, despite outshooting Holy Names significantly, we were simply ineffective in finishing.”

“In the end, details were what decided the final score. Offense missed critical opportunities and defense let their focus slip for but a single moment,” sophomore forward Daniel Chew said. “Should we have finished our shots early in the game, it would have been a completely different story.”

Holy Names sophomore Martin Meastratti put one unassisted shot through traffic into the back of the net just under three minutes into the extra time.

Fenlason crucial member of Biola’s strong defense

Eagles senior keeper Aaron Fenlason, along with the defense, kept up their fantastic play in keeping the Hawks scoreless throughout regulation, but Holy Names’ defenders were just as successful.

Fenlason, who was awarded Golden State Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week, had three saves and has only allowed three goals all year through five games. He also kept the game scoreless in the 54th minute with a save on the Hawks’ lone shot of the half. When everyone else on the field thought the play had been whistled dead, the only two left playing were Holy Names’ freshman midfielder Tomas Michael and Fenlason. Fenlason made sure the score stayed even with his crucial save.

Much of Fenlason’s success must be accredited to his largely unnoticed back line.

“Because our back line is so good, Aaron faces fewer shots on goal than most, if not all of our opponents. I am so very happy to have Aaron back there, but his success is in large part to the back line in front of him,” Kuderman said.

The Eagles landed 13 of their 23 shots on target with senior forward Marco Ruvalcaba landing five of his six shots.

The Eagles bounce back with their fourth win of the season

Biola’s second match of the tournament however was far more successful with the Eagles defeating Westminster 3-1 on Saturday, dropping the Griffins to 4-3 on the year.

After a scoreless first half for both sides, the Eagles jumped on the board with an unassisted goal from sophomore forward Carlos Ballesteros. The California native’s second goal of the year was quickly countered by Griffins’ junior Gabe Gonzalez who tied the game at one a piece.

The Eagles were not done yet though. In the 80th minute freshman defender Joao Toscan put the Eagles on top with the first goal of his Biola career off an assist from fellow defender senior Cody Shelton who put it inside the box for Toscan to tap in for what proved to be the winning goal.

Nine minutes later the Eagles added an insurance goal from Chew, capping off the game.

Second half proves to be strength for Biola

So far this season Biola has been a very strong second half team and that fact was emphasized Saturday night after scoring all three goals in the second half. Overall this year the Eagles have scored nine of their 12 total goals in the second half.

“Our second half statistics have been incredible so far this season. The team has proven to listen to the coaching staff, implement the instruction and reap the rewards,” Kuderman said.

Biola returns home on Saturday Sept. 17 against Menlo College.