The Biola women’s soccer team suffered their second season and first conference loss to Concordia University on Oct. 14. Concordia outscored Biola 3-1 in the first period, and 1-0 in the second to result in a final score of 4-1. Biola now holds a season record of 11-2, and 5-1 in conference.
Concordia currently ranks No. 5 in NAIA and was on a four game win streak when they faced Biola on their home field.
Concordia took no time getting on the board, scoring three minutes into the game. Concordia continued to find Biola’s net, pushing the score to 3-0 before Biola answered late in the first half with a goal from freshman midfielder Ashley Ramirez.
“We didn’t possess the ball enough offensively,” said senior midfielder Amanda Lillicrop. “We kept just kind of kicking it up and letting them counterattack on us.”
Ramirez scored this goal, her fifth of the season, from a header off of an assist from freshman midfielder Janae Megorden. Biola entered the second half down 3-1.
“We didn’t really defend well as a group,” said sophomore forward Taylor Venegas. “We were doing a lot of individual group defending, so I think that’s what really hurt us a lot. We weren’t really working well as a team to defend.”
Senior goalkeeper Briana Williams made three saves in the second half to limit Concordia to one goal. This proved not enough as Biola ended up shutout in second resulting in a final score of 4-1.
“[It was] kind of a little bit of a wakeup call,” said Lillicrop. “That we’re not unbeatable and that we do still need to have our heads completely in every single game.”
The four goals scored on Biola by Concordia stand as the most that any team has scored against the Eagles this season. In the 13 games that Biola has played, the opposing team has scored 10 goals.
“It just means that we have to come back and work ten times harder,” said Venegas. “Hopefully we’ll be able to play them again in playoffs and show them that this was just a mess up. We can beat anybody if we just get our minds right and give 100 percent. We just have to keep taking it game by game and hopefully beat Vanguard this Saturday.”
Biola now stands 5-1 in conference and ranks No. 9 in the NAIA. They look to improve upon their record against Vanguard University on Oct. 18. Vanguard ranks No. 12 in NAIA and currently stands 12-1-1. The Eagles played the Lions last season and lost 2-0.
