Box Score
HIGHLIGHTS & INTERVIEW
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- This one was decided less than five minutes into the match as a William Jessup own goal led to a 1-0 victory for Biola Women's Soccer to help the Eagles improve to 2-0-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference play.
It was a fairly uneventful affair at Al Barbour Field as the two teams battled in a hard-nosed defensive effort that saw neither team make the most of any of their own offensive runs.
The only goal came in the fourth minute when the offensive pressure spearheaded by
Samantha Verduzco led a WJU defender to punt the ball to the back of their own net and give the Eagles an early 1-0 lead.
After that the two teams played possession ball for much of the remainder of the game trying to play directly for most of the night and never really finding many open chances in either attacking zone.
Biola had a flurry of late runs in the mid-to-late second half, but none of them materialized as William Jessup got a strong effort from its keeper, Alison Marlow, who ended the night with eight saves and was aided by a stop from one of her defenders to turn aside all nine of Biola's shots-on-goal.
The Warriors were only able to put three on target against
Marina Rodriguez who ended the night with her second win of the season and first shutout of the year.
After the halftime break William Jessup seemed to be playing with zero wind in their sails as they put up just two shots in the final 45 minutes and had no chances on goal.
Biola on the other hand forced six saves from Marlow in the second half. None was bigger than a pair of chances in the box with just six minutes left in the game that forced the keeper nearly all the way back in the net to keep the ball from going over the line. She made the initial save on a go by
Cat Newberry, but only had about an inch of room to save when she made a stop of
Taylor Venegas' rebound shot at the line.
A very late
McKenna Marmelstein go gave the freshman goalkeeper one final scare, but ultimately the score line finished right where it was 85 minutes earlier.
The result is a positive one for the Eagles who rebounded nicely from their first loss of the season to improve to 8-1-3 (2-0-2 GSAC). The Warriors fall to 7-4 (0-3 GSAC) and have lost three straight.
Biola Women's Soccer is back at it in two days when it hosts Menlo (6-2-4, 2-1-1 GSAC) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
