The Biola men’s soccer team suffered their first loss of the season in front of nearly 600 cheering fans last Saturday. Cal State San Marcos Cougars (5-5-0) scored the golden goal in the second overtime as the the Eagles fell to 7-1-0 overall, but remain undefeated in GSAC play.
During the 11th minute, the Eagles were pressuring again when Cougars defender, Jordan Shadeed cleared the ball downfield, delivering a perfect long ball to senior forward, Brandon Zuniga. Zuniga netted the breakaway goal in the 12th minute for the first goal of the match and the first goal against Biola all season. The goal ended Eagles keeper, Aaron Fenlason’s streak of 653 straight minutes without giving up a goal dating back to last season.
Three minutes later the Cougars padded their lead when Troy Skomra scored on a throw-in that went off Fenlason’s hands and into the goal as Fenlason was hit from behind. The unassisted goal had Biola playing comeback for the rest of the match.
Coming into the second half down by two goals, the Eagles came out strong as they controlled the ball for most of the second half. Their break finally came in the 69th minute of the match when sophomore forward, Marco Ruvalcaba scored from just inside the eighteen on a great feed from senior forward, Derek Friehe.
Ruvalcaba stepped up to the task once again when he added his second goal of the match and a team leading sixth of the season as his header found the back of the net in the 82nd minute. The game-tying goal came off a great ball from junior forward, Jake Ravenscraft.
In the middle of the second overtime, the Cougars sent the Eagles fans home in the 104th minute when Zuniga netted his second goal of the match off a long pass from Shadeed. Following the goal, an excited Cougars team charged the field and celebrated.
After the game, Eagles co-captain, Kennedy Chongo stated, “I believe the fact that we came back from 2-0 shows heart. It says something about the team. We just have to bounce back and play strong against Westmont and Azusa.”
Following Friday evening’s loss, the Eagles took Chongo’s words to heart and did bounce back on Tuesday to defeat the Westmont Warriors, 2-0. The Eagles improve to 8-1 on the year and 3-0 in GSAC play. Chongo netted his first goal in nearly a month on a penalty kick in the 28th minute.
Even though the Warriors outshot the Eagles 9-5 in the second half, the Eagles managed their 8th shutout of the year. Ruvalcaba added insurance in the 83rd minute when his shot from the left side found the back of the net. Ruvalcaba has scored seven goals in the last seven games; he currently leads the team in goals with eight.
The Eagles look forward to an exciting home match up versus rival, No.2 Azusa Pacific University on Saturday at Noon. APU is 11-0 and the only undefeated team left in the Golden State Athletic Conference.
