Biola women’s soccer started their season off strong, beating California State University Los Angeles in a scrimmage on Aug. 28 and Bethesda University Sept. 1. With that win, the Eagles improve to 2-0 for the year.
Biola scrimmaged against CSULA on Aug. 28 and came out victorious with a penalty kick goal from senior midfielder Miranda Starbeck.
APPROACHING WITH CONFIDENCE
As time ran out in the first half, Biola made one last offensive surge. With 13 seconds left on the clock, Starbeck gained possession of the ball in front of CSULA’s goal. As she made her last second shot, a defender fouled her, forcing a penalty kick.
“I just wanted to step up there and be confident and place it in the corner,” Starbeck said. With that goal, the Eagles entered the half with a 1-0 lead over CSULA, and the score remained that way thanks to solid goalkeeping by Senior Brianna Williams.
“There’s still a lot of things we can be working on,” Starbeck said, “so the scrimmages are nice because we can kind of work those things out.”
Starbeck also noted things the team did well. “There’s definitely some positives we can take away. We had a lot of offensive opportunities, and our defense was pretty solid. We just need to make sure we can keep that pressure through until the end of the game.”
SHUTTING OUT THE COMPETITION
When Biola played Bethesda University on Sept. 1, the Eagles came firing on all cylinders. They won the game 8-0 thanks to solid defense and standout performances by Starbeck, who had one goal and two assists, and senior midfielder Amanda Lillicrop who also scored two goals.
“Fortunately we were able to put it together on a lot of good combinations and make the right runs through and see the right spots,” Lillicrop said.
Biola completely shut down the Flames on offense, resulting in no shots on the Eagles’ net. Biola ended the game with 19 shots on goal.
The women’s team now looks to beat Marymount College Sept. 4. So far this year, the Eagles have outscored their opponents 11-1 in exhibition games for an average of 5.5 goals and 33.5 shots a game.
Biola has not had this good of a start since the 2008 season when they last went 2-0. Beating Marymount on Thursday will give the women’s soccer team their first 3-0 start in eight years.
“We’re just going to keep pushing, keep working hard and keep trying to work on switching runs and finding our attackers,” Lillicrop said.
