Freshman Joey O'Keefe fights for the ball in Biola's 15-0 win over Pacific Union. | John Buchanan/THE CHIMES
The men’s soccer team kept their record at an even 2-2 with a record-breaking win against Pacific Union College following up a loss against Marymount College.
They had a historic night on Tuesday when they slaughtered Pacific Union 15-0. Achieving 15 goals in one night is a Biola record, surpassing the previous total of 14. Sophomore Sava Pantic tied Biola’s individual record for goals scored in a game, notching six.
“Our opponent was very bad, but it is always hard to score 15 goals. It doesn’t matter who you are playing. I feel great and I scored six goals because of my team. I had great support from my players on the field and I don’t think I would be able to do that without their help,” Pantic said in an email.
Scoring came early and often for Biola
Junior Carlos Ballesteros got the scoring started early for the Eagles, putting home a goal in the second minute and then adding another goal only two minutes later. By the time the first half was over, Biola had scored nine times — freshman Stephen Tanquary added two of his own, Pantic scored three and junior Daniel Chew and sophomore Alex Kincade added one each.
The Eagles picked up right where they left off in the second half with Pantic scoring three straight times for Biola to start off the half, pushing their gaping lead to 12-0. In the 80th minute senior Julio Cuevas scored his first goal of the game, putting it past the keeper from the top of the penalty area.
The quick goals from Pantic proved came from a mental strategy for the team at halftime.
“I asked the boys to restrict themselves to only allowing goals to come from our target forward, in this case Sava Pantic,” head coach Bryan Kuderman said.
Chew scored the record-tying 14th goal in the 86th minute off an assist from Pantic and freshman Marshall Deogracia added the record-setting 15th goal in the 89th minute.
Biola drastically outshot Pacific Union 44-2 on the night with 31 shots on goal.
Games like these can often prove unproductive in terms of preparation and training, but Kuderman saw progress in his team.
“We hope to take from these games an ability to play one- and two-touch soccer and limiting ourselves on the dribble. This will help us improve our overall technical speed of play and mobility off the ball,” Kuderman said.
Eagles score early against Marymount
Against Marymount, Biola struck early with junior Daniel Chew driving home the first goal of the game off a pass from freshman John Hanscom.
The Eagles were able to hold the lead until the 43rd minute when the Mariners struck back. Scott Smith scored off of a corner call that could have gone either way. Both teams were able to rack up the shots in the second half, but it was Marymount that eventually broke through with Sergio Torres driving one home in the 90th minute.
Biola’s next game is next Wednesday, Sept. 19 at California State University, San Marcos.
