As the famous saying goes, “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
Biola Men’s Soccer was so close and had many opportunities to keep their undefeated season in GSAC play alive, but the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds prevailed with the golden goal in the 99th minute on a chilly Tuesday evening. The loss was Biola’s first in GSAC play and knocked Biola from second place to third in the GSAC rankings.
Prior to the start of the game, the Eagles moved from No. 20 to 11 in the NAIA National Poll. Following the loss, the Eagles fall to 10-2-1 overall and 5-1-1 in conference play as they played in their third-straight overtime contest.
The Sunbirds struck first in the 35th minute when Nehemias Blanco scored on a free kick from over thirty yards out. The ball was tucked perfectly in the far post and away from sophomore keeper Aaron Fenlason. He and the Eagles defense have now allowed five goals in the last three games after allowing just three goals in the first ten games.
After the late first half goal, the Eagles quickly bounced back when sophomore Marco Ruvlacaba scored for the tenth time this season just two minutes later. His unassisted goal came from twenty five yards out and the score was knotted at the half even though Biola had outshot the Sunbirds 12-3.
The Eagles had many opportunities at the end of regulation but senior Derek Friehe’s one-on-one was stopped on a save by Sunbirds’ keeper, Gildardo Villarruel. Then, with two minutes remaining in regulation, Eagles’ Abraham Gomez fired an absolute rocket from 25 yards out. The ball rang off the top crossbar and the game went into overtime.
The golden goal game with 38 seconds left in the half when Eagles’ senior defender, Shalom Bako turned the ball over deep in Eagles territory. The ensuing attack gave the Sunbirds a 4-2 advantage and Fenlason made his second save of the night on a great one-on-one stop from a shot by Vitor Machado. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the ball ricocheted right back to Machado who blooped the game winning goal into an empty net. The goal had Eagles’ fans stunned and Eagles’ players distraught. It was a hard effort by the Eagles but the end of the line had Biola out shooting FPU 25-12, while being out scored 2-1.
The Eagles’ first GSAC loss came just days after their first tie as the Eagles drew a 1-1 tie against No. 16 Concordia over the weekend. Again, Ruvlacaba scored the lone goal for the Eagles and his total of 10 goals is the most goals by any Eagles player since 2005. In the match against Concordia, the Eagles had plenty of chances in the second half as they out shot Concordia 10-2 in the final 45 minutes of regulation. Again, the Eagles could not capitalize on their opportunities.
Following the difficult loss against FPU, the Eagles look to rebound against Point Loma this weekend as they travel to San Diego to take on the Sea Lions.
