After a miraculous game-winning goal from senior captain and forward Leonardo Contreras on Sep. 27, Biola men’s soccer looked to carry their momentum into Saturday night’s heavyweight bout against the Vanguard University Lions. Unfortunately, the Lions offense proved too much too handle.
The Eagles started the game with furious and fluid ball movement, coming up short on numerous scoring opportunities. However, the Lions had the closest scoring opportunity with almost 35 minutes left in the game, when Vanguard laced a shot towards Biola junior keeper Igor Puglia. Fortunately, Puglia anticipated the shot perfectly for a clockwork save. Within minutes, Puglia would again come away with three more perfectly executed saves to stall the Vanguard offense.
Similar to the Lions, the Eagles squandered many scoring opportunities, with each one coaxing Biola fans to stand in extreme angst.
With half a minute to go in the first half, the Lions continued their abrasive assault on the Eagles’ backline, this time scoring the first and only goal of the game on a long throw in. The Eagles defensive looked a little soft in the first half as Vanguard piled on numerous scoring opportunities. Nevertheless, Puglia performed admirably the entire game, limiting a possible blowout.
Akin to the first half, Biola came out fiery and Puglia strutted his talent with another highlight reel save.
With 35 minutes left, the Lions continued to pile on the pressure as they nearly put the game out of reach with what looked to be a sure goal. However, Puglia once again stretched out to make another phenomenal save.
The rest of the first half was the most physical half of soccer Biola has played all season, as three yellow cards were issued in the second half alone. Bodies were flying and collisions with keepers were commonplace. Unfortunately, the Eagles could not overcome the aggressive Lions on Oct. 1 and fell to Vanguard University 1-0.
With the loss, Biola stands at 7-3 overall. On Tuesday Oct. 4, the Eagles will hit the road for the first time in nearly a month when they take on the Westmont College Warriors in Santa Barbara at 3:30 p.m.
According to Head Coach Todd Elins, junior midfielder Yuri Cruz was injured last week with a slight shoulder separation when he was fouled. Elkins says that Cruz will try to move it around Monday to determine if he will could play in a big conference match on Tuesday.
