Biola women’s soccer continues their hot streak, adding two more victories to their overall record this week. The Eagles beat Hope International University on Sept. 27 and returned home to upset No. 8 ranked Westmont University Sept. 30. Biola now stands 9-1 for the season, 3-0 in conference and 3-0 at home.
The Eagles soundly beat Hope by outscoring them 2-0, and outshooting them 22 shots on goal to one.
Biola’s first goal came only six minutes into the game from sophomore forward Taylor Venegas. Sophomore midfielder Jessie Burns fed Venegas the ball and she powered it by the goalkeeper on the right side, giving Biola the early 1-0 lead. This marked Venegas’ sixth goal of the season.
The Eagles’ second goal came late in the second period by freshman midfielder Ashley Ramirez. Ramirez collected the rebound of senior midfielder Amanda Lillicrop’s blocked shot and found the back of Hope’s net.
TAKING ON WESTMONT AT HOME
After defeating Hope, Biola returned home to take on the No. 8 ranked Westmont University. Westmont had an overall record of 7-2 and 2-1 in conference before playing the Eagles.
Westmont took more offensive attempts than the Eagles in the scoreless first half. The Warriors had seven shots on goal compared to Biola’s three, but solid goalkeeping by senior goalkeeper Briana Williams kept the score at 0-0.
Eighteen minutes into the second half, Venegas found sophomore forward Margaret Guadarrama on a cross pass, and Guadarrama capitalized for her third goal of the season. Biola earned a one goal lead and held it for the rest of the game.
“I think I was just in the right place at the right time,” said Guadarrama. “Tay [Venegas] played a great ball.”
Biola’s solid defensive play secured their win. The Eagles pulled out a shutout victory against the Warriors, a team who has scored 21 goals in the ten games they have played this year.
“It’s always good to win and it’s good to beat a team that’s ranked high, and they were contenders last year in the championship game,” said senior goalkeeper Briana Williams. “We can’t let it inflate our heads too much. We need to keep moving and we have other opponents ahead, and we can take that and chew on it but we need to get back to work and move onto the next game.”
UP NEXT: WILLIAM JESSUP UNIVERSITY
The Eagles now rank first in GSAC with their record of 9-1 and 3-0 in conference. Their next game will be home against William Jessup University on Oct. 4. Biola last faced WJU in 2010, the Eagles losing 0-1.
“We need to work together and stay confident,” said Williams. “Confident in what we know how to do, and connect and shoot when we see the net.”
WJU has a 5-4 record, losing to Westmont 0-3 on Sept. 20, ten days before Biola beat the Warriors.
