Men’s soccer walked onto Al Barbour Field Wednesday night to battle it out against Concordia University Irvine. The Eagles played a consistent match. Two early goals helped propel them into the second half where they saw more competition. However, BU pulled out the win, 3-2.
OFFENSIVE HEAVY PLAY
The Eagles started the first half fired up. Freshman midfielder Dylan Memory put up a high left shot on goal within the first five minutes of play, showing the offensive determination of the Eagles. Only 10 minutes later, an assist by senior forward Hunter Finnegan was directed to junior forward Jack MacDonald who launched a high left kick straight into the net, putting his team up 1-0.
“I thought we worked really hard,” MacDonald said. “We definitely wanted to win so I think we had a lot more energy coming out today because of our three previous losses. Our team definitely is starting to feel like it’s coming together a lot better from the last game, so it was fun to play.”
Not even one minute later, the Golden Eagles struck right back, scoring a lower left goal to even out the score, 1-1. Yet, CUI made a crucial error that helped Biola. The Golden Eagles were trying to clear the ball from the box when a CUI defender accidentally pushed the ball into the goal, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead into the half.
EAGLES PREVAIL
The Eagles entered the second half a little more lax than the first. Transition was not as tight. Biola managed to get a couple of shots on goal, but no return. It wasn’t until an assist by freshman midfielder Jack Kilgallon was fed to senior midfielder Jacob Sorenson, who placed the ball in the back of the goal with a lower right kick. The Eagles were confident being up 3-1.
“Early in the game we did a good job of being patient and Concordia was pretty aggressive, getting the ball forward trying to create some opportunities by getting a corner early and we didn’t freak out,” said head coach Todd Elkins. “Our transition was good from defense to offense. We took a little extra focus just to take a deep breath to transition fully. It was good establishing early on that we showed some composure in transition.”
Biola seemingly had the game in the bag when with 13 seconds left in the game, Concordia managed to squeeze in one final goal. Yet, their efforts were not enough. BU secured the win with the earlier insurance goal by Sorenson, ending the Eagles’ night victorious, 3-2.
The Eagles (2-4-1) will head north to Oakland, California on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. to take on Holy Names University in their first regular season matchup.
