After the Eagles grabbed their first blowout win of the season against Concordia Portland University on Sept. 14, they looked to continue their run at home on Saturday. The Eagles played through a challenging match against the California State University, San Marcos Cougars. The Eagles fought to protect their goal and attempted shots to the goal but could not score leading to a final score of 0-0. 

In the first half, the Cougars challenged the Eagles with strong defense that only allowed the Eagles to make three shots attempts towards the goal in the half alone. The first shot came less than 10 minutes into the game, when senior forward Sarah Yang drove the ball across the field to the goal, shooting it from the right corner of the field, which was later blocked by a Cougar. 

BIOLA LOOKS FOR A GOAL

The Eagles final two shots of the half came in the last 10 minutes of the game. Sophomore midfielder Katelyn Penner kicked the ball to the lower right of the goal where the Cougars’ goalkeeper saved it. Shortly after, senior midfielder Hali Oakes also attempted a shot that was later blocked by a Cougar.  

After halftime, the Eagles changed their game plan by moving past the Cougars to attempt 11 shots to the goal, including two close goals. The first close goal came in the middle of the half when freshman forward Mason Stansberry drove the ball down the field and kicked to the lower left of the goal, where the ball was saved by Cougars goalkeeper. The final close goal of the game came by freshman midfielder Halie Jamir shooting the ball to the low center of the goal that was also saved by the goalkeeper. 

In the last six minutes of the second half, both the Eagles and the Cougars looked to score to end the game, but both teams kicked the ball out of bounds for a total of 10 times till the buzzer, to start the first overtime period. 

EAGLES MOVE INTO TWO OVERTIME PERIODS

“They had a game plan to try to make it hard for us to possess the ball in the final third through our midfield and our forward line,” said head coach Erin Brunelle. “Going into overtime, it’s the best way to win, worse way to lose because everything’s just on the line with a golden goal opportunity. It’s a good experience knowing that that might happen in conference play.”

During the first overtime period, the Eagles kept their game strong by continuing to defend the goal and attempted two shots. The clock ran out and the Eagles ran into double overtime in hopes of picking up a second win. As the period started, Biola continued to play hard by attempting two more shots and two corner kicks, but ran out of time, ultimately tying, 0-0. 

“I’d rather win in regular time…like if we would’ve won, it’s an exciting way to win in overtime,” Penner said. “So I think that pushed all of us to just keep up the work and try harder and take all the chances we could get upfront.”

Overall, the Eagles worked together to defeat the Cougars by taking one to two shot attempts to the goal. Jamir led the team with five shot attempts and senior goalkeeper Christina Rodriguez collected three saves. 

The Eagles moved to 1-3-1 in non-conference and will return to the road to take on Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California on Saturday at 2 p.m.