LA MIRADA, Calif. --- For the first time since the advent of the GSAC Tournament, the Biola Women's Soccer team is hosting a GSAC Tournament match facing off against The Master's College in a first-round match on Tuesday afternoon.
The Eagles, who wrapped up the second seed in the conference tournament, put together an impressive season, finishing with a 10-6-0 record after finishing with a GSAC mark of 7-2-0. Biola opened the season with three tough losses, but turned things around after the first GSAC match, finishing the season by winning seven of its final eight matches. The lone loss came as a 1-0 defeat at the eventual GSAC Champion Point Loma Nazarene.
The Mustangs finished seventh in the conference and enter the match with a 10-8-0 overall record and battled to a 4-5-0 GSAC match. The Master's had been receiving votes in the last NAIA National Poll, as did the Eagles.
The two teams met just one week ago up in Santa Clarita with Biola pulling out a 2-1 double-overtime victory. Biola struck first with a goal just before the half, only to see the Mustangs answer back with a goal late in the contest to force OT. However, the Eagles were able to score a goal just under two minutes into the second overtime period to pull out the victory.
Biola is having its best season since 2004 when the Eagles won the GSAC with a perfect 10-0-0 record and advanced to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament. Biola had struggled over the last few years, playing a postseason match for the first time since 2005 last year and now placing second in the always-tough GSAC.
The winner of today's match advances to the conference semifinals to face the winner of the match between No. 6 Vanguard and No. 3 Azusa Pacific, also today at 2:00 p.m. The other side of the bracket features matches between No. 1 Point Loma Nazarene hosting No. 8 Fresno Pacific at 1:00 p.m. and No. 4 Westmont hosting No. 5 Concordia at 3:00 p.m.
Live stats and video will be available for the match courtesy of the Biola University Athletic Department. Live stats can be found at http://quickstream.biola.edu/livesports/wsoccer/xlive.htm with the live video stream at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/biola.portal#.
