A new era began for Biola men’s soccer Thursday with several new faces in head coach Todd Elkins’ starting lineup. However, the end result of their first game of 2018 closely resembled recent history as a lackluster offense wiped out a valiant defensive effort, the Eagles losing 1-0 against the UC San Diego Tritons.

The only goal of the match came just before halftime as UCSD midfielder Max Gonda headed in a corner kick from the left side near the 43-minute mark.

That proved enough to win what proved a defensive battle for both sides. The Tritons outshot the Eagles 12-9, with three shots on goal to Biola’s two.

UCSD kept pressure on Biola early with four corner kicks in the first 16 minutes of action, and never looked back. The Tritons finished with a whopping 13 corner kicks compared to just three for the Eagles.

Biola did not even get a corner kick opportunity until the 62:03 mark, but very nearly converted. Junior forward Axel Van Cleve’s header from senior defender Kousei Mattox hit the crossbar, keeping the Eagles scoreless.

NEW FACES

A silver lining for Elkins and his squad is that both of the Eagles’ shots on goal came from freshmen midfielders Jonathan Serrano and Oscar Rubalcava. Both players saw 54 minutes of action in their Biola debuts.

Redshirt sophomore Alex Muir got the start at goalkeeper, having seemingly gained an edge in the battle to replace graduated goalie Igor Puglia.

However, Muir exited the game in favor of Luis Rodriguez, a transfer junior out of San Jacinto College, at the 25:54 mark for reasons currently unclear. Rodriguez played the rest of the game finished with one goal allowed and two saves.

The Eagles continue their trip down south with a game at Cal State San Marcos that starts at 3 p.m. Saturday.