Box Score IRVINE, Calif. --- Defense was optional at the start of the match at CU Field on Wenesday, but it became crucial over the final 65 minutes of play as Biola and Concordia battled to a 3-3 draw in each side's sixth Golden State Athletic Conference contest of the season.
 
It was Concordia who entered the day as the favorite, sitting among the top-4 teams in the conference with a 4-1 in-conference record. Biola came in licking its wounds after losing two of its last three games in heartbreaking fashion.
 
The host school looked the better side at the start, getting a shot off the post and one in the back of the net within the first seven minutes. On the other side of the pitch, it took Biola 12:31 to finally get its first shot off.
 
It did not take much longer after that first shot for the visiting Eagles to get its first taste of the pay dirt. John Hanscom got his third goal of the season in the 15^th minute, booting an Alex Kincade cross into the lower left corner to get Biola on the board and inject a surge of confidence in the underdog.
 
Scoring did not stop there, with Concordia rebounding quickly and getting one past JT Addington on the very next shot of the game.
 
Rather than let the deficit get them feeling defeated, the visitors handled their business on the defensive end, stopping two corner kick opportunites and traversing across the pitch to set up their offensive rush.
 
A Concordia foul resulted in a Joey O'Keefe free kick that wiggled its way past CUI's keeper, Jordan Brinkley, and again got the game evened at two in the 23^rd minute of play.
 
Biola upped the pressure on the defensive end effectively and allowed just one more shot in the remaining 22 minutes of the first half. This increased pressure resulted in a deadly counterattack that was able to use its litany of forwards to form some top-notch combination play.
 
On one counter attack Stephen Tanquary and Joey O'Keefe, Biola's two top scorers, passed the ball through to Jarrett Pugh and the freshman found the back of the net off the final cross to give the Eagles a 3-2 to finish the half.
 
The combined total of five goals in the first half is the most in any half Biola has played in 2014.
 
The offense did not continue at its brisk pace in the second half of play as both keepers stepped up their game. The two teams were very accurate with their shot selection throughout the match, making the keepers on both sides work hard. Biola took 13 shots in the four periods, with 10 of the going down as shots-on-goal. Concordia posted 19 shots on the day with 12 of them going on goal.
 
JT Addington ended the day with a season-high nine saves and Jordan Brinkley finished with seven.

The one ball Addington could not stop in the second half came off the head of Connor Gordon. The freshman received the pass in from Chris Rodriguez and nestled a perfect header past Addington to end Biola's hope of a regulation win with just seven minutes to play.
 
Concordia had a flurry of opportunities early in the first overtime, but its forwards lost their shooting touch, pushing two of three shots high or wide and the other right into the hands of Addington.
 
Biola had the majority of the opportunities in the second 10-minute extra period, getting three corner kick chances. However, it could not get the perfect bounce off a set piece and CUI walked away lucky to have a tie.
 
The visiting Eagles move to 5-5-2 (2-3-1 GSAC) and host Vanguard at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday at Al Barbour Field.