BOX SCORE

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Senior Shalom Bako scored just over four minutes into overtime, giving No. 20 Biola a 3-2 overtime victory over upset-minded Hope International University in a GSAC match on Wednesday night at Al Barbour Field.

The Eagles, who moved into the NAIA Top 25 this week for the first time since Oct. 18, 2006, improve to 10-1-0 on the season and stay a top the GSAC standings with a perfect 5-0-0 record. The Royals drop to 5-6-3 and to 0-5-1 in conference action.

Biola, which may have been looking forward to a big GSAC showdown at No. 16 Concordia on Saturday, came out strong early in each period, scoring all three goals in the first five minutes of each half.

The Eagles opened the game with a quick strike just 3:14 into the match. Sophomore Zach Bautista sent a nice through ball right onto the foot of senior Humberto Toscan, who slipped past the last line of defense and beat the keeper with a quick shot. It was Toscan's sixth goal of the season and put Biola up early.

However, the Eagles had trouble fighting off a determined Hope team, which seemed to dominate play the final 35 minutes of the half. The stats looked to favor Biola as the team outshot the Royals 10-3, however the Eagles had a 5-0 shot advantage through the first seven minutes.

Hope nearly tied the score late in the first half as freshman sensation Edgar Bran's shot with the goalkeeper beat was cleared from danger by a Biola defender.

In the second half, Biola again dominated play early, scoring just 3:41 into the second period. Aaron Fenlason sent a long punt down the far side of the field where Marco Ruvalcaba quickly passed the ball ahead to Kennedy Chongo, who touched it past the on-rushing goalkeeper for his sixth goal of the season. The tally made it 2-0 and it looked like the Eagles were on their way to an easy victory.

But Hope did not give up. Bran helped get the Royals back into the game, scoring in the 55th minute. The freshman beat the Biola defense to a long clearance, then beat Fenlason with a quick move and scored his 14th goal of the season.

Hope kept up the pressure and it culminated in a free kick just outside of the box after a Biola player was whistled for a hand ball. Bran again stepped up and fired a rocket into the top right corner to tie the score at 2-2.

The two teams continued to go back and forth with the Eagles creating more chances trying to avoid overtime. However, none of those chances were converted into goals and for the second time in three home games, Biola headed to overtime.

In the extra period, the teams battled at midfield for the first three minutes before the Eagles had the first real chance cleared by the Hope defense, leading to a corner kick. Tony Montalvo sent the kick into the box where it bounced off a number of players before settling at the feet of Bako. The senior then blasted the ball through traffic into the back of the net for the match winner. It was his first goal of the season and the first since the 2007 season. With the goal, he becomes the 13th Biola player to score a goal this season.

Fenlason earned the win for the Eagles despite allowing a goal for the just the second time in 11 matches. He recorded a save and faced seven shots in the victory.

Biola's next match is a big one, as mentioned earlier. The Eagles travel to Irvine on Saturday (Oct. 17) to face No. 16 Concordia at 2:30 p.m. Concordia improved to 8-4-0 and 4-1-0 in GSAC play with a 2-0 win over Vanguard today and are just one win back of Biola in the GSAC standings.