Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It was a strange and frustrating result after 90 minutes of play at Al Barbour Field on Saturday night as No. 14 Biola Women's Soccer suffered its first loss of the 2015 season 0-2 to Marymount.

"Our mentality going into the start of the game was not where it needed to be to come out victorious," said Head Coach Erin Brunelle. "The women proved in the second half what they were capable of, but by then they had dug themselves a pretty big hole."
 
The first half was probably one of the strangest halves of soccer ever played at Al Barbour Field. Biola dominated possession throughout the entirety of the first 35 minutes of play and had a number of good runs into the offensive third, but simply could not find the back of the net.
 
On the other hand the Mariners had the ball for about one-eighth of the 45 minutes, but they definitely made the most of it by getting two goals to take a significant advantage into the break.
 
Both goals came under peculiar circumstances that left just about everyone scratching their heads afterward. The first goal came on the Mariners' first shot of the game in the 11^th minute. Yasmyn Andrade had the ball at the top of the box and just flicked the ball in the general direction of the goal. It seemed to be going well right, but took a funky hop off the turf and redirected about an inch past Amanda Johnson who was left with a late dive across the cage.
 
Marymount's second score came when a handball was called on Johnson and left the Mariners in a peculiar spot with an indirect free kick inside of the penalty box. The player took the free kick and just swept the ball to the second kick taker who put it on goal. After Johnson came up with the initial save a goal was scored when Madison Maurer powered the rebound to the back of the net in the 39^th minute.

"Credit to Marymount for capitalizing on some sloppy mistakes in the back and being organized in pressuring us well all over the field," said Brunelle.
 
After that second tally the wind seemed to have left Biola's sails completely as the team that looked so sharp through a majority of the first half had no more quality opportunities through the final few minutes of the half.
 
The second half saw a keeper change on both sides as Marina Rodriguez came in for the Eagles and Jessica Ramirez entered in for the Mariners. Rodriguez didn't have much work to do as Biola controlled the ball for just about all of the second half and fell victim to a great performance from Ramirez.
 
The Mariners' freshman keeper came in and made an immediate impact as she had to defend four Biola corner kick chances between the 56^th and 59^th minutes. Not only was their a high quantity of corner kick chances, but Biola made sure they were high quality as well, but just could not squeak it past the surprisingly acrobatic keeper.
 
That high-pressure start to the second half did not fade away as Biola continued to pile on the chances until the final buzzer. The Eagles took 14 total shots in the second half after trailing 5-4 in shots through the first 45 minutes. Five of those were stopped by Ramirez as they went on goal.
 
Taylor Venegas had a trio of opportunities with headers up close, but the freshman keeper did well to stop all of them.
 
Another player who was strong throughout the night for Biola in the losing effort was McKenna Marmelstein. The Eagles' strong midfielder was winning ball after ball throughout the effort to give Biola as many possible chances on offense as she could.
 
In the end no amount of force was enough as Biola was held without a goal for the first time this season and suffered a loss for the first time. The Eagles fall to 7-1-3 while the Mariners improved to 4-3-2.
 
Biola will have its next chance to get back to its winning ways as it hosts William Jessup for a Golden State Athletic Conference contest this Thursday at 7:00 p.m.