Needing a win to stay in postseason contention, the Eagles hosted the second placed team in the PacWest—the Point Loma Nazarene University Sea Lions. Point Loma and Biola traded goals to a 2-2 tie with the Sea Lions winning the match three minutes into overtime to finish 2-3.

fearless approach

“[The players] are fearless in their approach against teams that are on paper supposed to be better than us,” said head coach Todd Elkins. “[We] don’t look at it that way, they come out and they say ‘We’re going to work hard, maybe harder than the other team.’”

Biola started the scoring in the 15th minute when junior midfielder Kousei Mattox launched a pass over the top of the Sea Lions defense. Freshman midfielder Jack Cybulski cut past his defender and smartly placed his shot away from Point Loma goalkeeper Sean Williams. The Eagles maintained their 1-0 lead to halftime.

Point Loma fought back in the second half when they began to pile pressure on the Biola defense. The Sea Lions finally converted in the 72nd minute when a shot from midfielder Eduardo Gallardo flew in off of the bottom of the crossbar to tie the match at 1-1.

Slim postseason chances

The Eagles pulled ahead with six minutes remaining when senior midfielder Jarrett Pugh headed in a lobbed pass from senior defender Riley Waldeck.

Point Loma quickly answered Pugh’s goal as they pressed for a tying goal. Senior goalkeeper Igor Puglia had a six-second violation, giving the Sea Lions an indirect free kick with less than a minute left in the match. Gallardo’s shot from the free kick found its way through the wall and under Puglia to tie the match at 2-2 with seconds remaining.

Overtime started fast-paced, but a counterattack from Point Loma led to a one-on-one, and midfielder Tim Siegfried placed his shot past Puglia to win the match for the Sea Lions.

The Eagles fall to 6-8-2 overall on the season (5-5-1 in PacWest). They still have slim postseason hopes, but the team does not control its own destiny and needs plenty of help to overcome the squads ahead of them. They look to improve their hopes with a visit to the Academy of Arts University on Nov. 2.