The men’s water polo team competed in the Biola round-robin on Saturday. The Eagles won all three of their matches, improving their season record to 13-16 overall. Biola defeated La Verne in a sudden death victory 15-14 to finish off the round-robin.
CLOSE CONTEST
The Eagles held a 13-11 lead with a minute to go in the fourth quarter. La Verne remarkably rallied with two goals, tying Biola in the last 30 seconds of regulation. Two three-minute overtime periods were pursued after regulation play.
In overtime, La Verne managed to score the go-ahead goal over the Eagles in the opening three minutes. The scoring ceased for much of the overtime period until junior attacker Dominic Hidalgo-Valecillo tied the match at 14 with 12 seconds left on the clock. Hidalgo-Valecillo’s clutch goal sent the game into a three-minute sudden-death period.
In the sudden-death period, Caleb Hernandez found the upper right corner of the goal, which secured the victory for Biola over La Verne.
Five Eagles paced the scoring with at least two goals in Saturday’s contest. Hidalgo-Valecillo and sophomore utility Nolan Rapp each scored three goals. Rapp also recorded a pair of assists which set up five Eagle goals in the match.
Biola finishes the regular season against Redlands on Nov. 9 at 4 p.m.
