Women’s soccer returned home for a PacWest matchup against Holy Names University on a beautiful Thursday night, and the Eagles got a much-needed conference win led by three first half goals, including two from junior forward AnnMarie Alvarez.

“I knew we had a lot of heart and it felt really good to be out there on our home field again,” Alvarez said. “I knew we all wanted it and it was just a matter of who was gonna put it in the back of the net and it was a good win today.”

The Eagles’ offense got straight to work in the first half, tallying two shots on goal in the first 10 minutes. Alvarez then put her team ahead in the 14th minute on a well-placed cross from sophomore forward Madi Demetropolis for the 1-0 lead.

Just four minutes later, Demetropolis got a goal of her own after a shot from junior forward Sarah Jeffries hit off the crossbar was collected and pushed through for a 2-0 advantage.

Alvarez then continued her excellent night with her second goal of the half in the 24th minute, as Jeffries collected her second assist of the game on a beautiful cross from the right side that was ripped past the goalie for a 3-0 lead they would take into the half.

“Those three are the ladies that we’ve tried to have in our attack as much as possible and they’ve done a tremendous amount of work for us all season long,” said head coach Erin Brunelle. “It was nice to see them continue to combine well with one another.”

With a three-goal lead, the Eagles relied on their defense in the second half, which time and time again repelled the Hawks’ attack to avoid any significant threats on the goal. The offense continued to push, taking 11 second half shots. None of them quite connected, but the strong first half combined with excellent play from the defense gave Biola the 3-0 shutout.

The win improves the Eagles to 5-3-2 in conference play and 7-6-4 overall. They will look to close out PacWest play strong with their last home game of the year against Dominican University on Saturday at 7 p.m.