Box Score
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Opening night jitters? NO CHANCE. Biola Women's Soccer wins its 2015 season opener over Viterbo in a dominating 3-0 display of balanced play.
 
"The difference was just heart and desire to change things from the first half and implement them in the second half," said Head Coach Erin Brunelle. "The girls believed in themselves….It took us awhile to break them down, but once we did the floodgates kind of opened for us."
 
The Eagles' offense was slow going at the start as the V-Hawks controlled possession through the first half of the first half until the Eagles found out how to pass the ball around and open up the V-Hawks defenders.
 
Once they figured things out the Eagles did not let up, turning what was a 3-6 shot differential at halftime into a 14-13 differential at the end of the game, and, of course, leading where it really counts with three goals to none.
 
"It's great to get a win," said Brunelle. "I could not ask for anything better from the girls, and I am really looking forward to this season and how far this team can really go."
 
Biola's first two tallies of the night came off the foot of Jessie Burns. Brunelle had the center midfielder playing far up in the offensive third to attempt to take advantage of the junior's ball handling ability around the goal.
 
It worked.
 
Burns' first score came off a dime of a dish from Amanda Otto. The senior's long pass landed straight in the middle of the box, where Burns was able to boot it to the right side of a charging keeper and find the twine.
 
That tally, in the 36^th minute, was the only noise of the first half as both teams were trying to get their feet under them under the lights.
 
Biola's feet were firmly planted on the ground right out of halftime as Burns notched her second score of the night just :24 into the frame.
 
It was a similar story to the first as Burns got a through ball in the middle of the box and again found the same side of the net. This opportunity came after Taylor Venegas' sweet feet beat a challenging defender and fed the ball to Janae Megorden for the through ball that setup the goal.
 
"We intentionally moved her up in the field, because she is great in and around the goal, so we wanted to put her in those positions a little more frequently," said Brunelle. "Her teammates were just looking for her, and they found her successfully a couple times."
 
Just three minutes later came the Eagles' final goal of the game. It was McKenna Marmelstein who knocked home a sweeping free kick from the top left of the box to settle the scoreline.
 
After a flurry of early runs and shots (not many of which went on goal), Viterbo struggled to setup its offense for the remainder of the night against a very fit Biola defense.
 
The V-Hawks' only good choice at goal in the second half came with just six minutes left on the clock. Molly Mochometa, who led VU with five shots, had one of her two shots on goal denied by the far-side post, maintaining the clean sheet for Biola's starting keeper, Amanda Johnson. Johnson had four saves in her first appearance for Biola.
 
"She puts herself in a good position to make a save. She cuts off angles pretty well," said Brunelle.
 
It's a steady start for the No. 22 Biola team, which improves to 1-0 while dropping Viterbo to 0-3. The Eagles are back in action on Thursday night with a home match against Northwest Ohio at 7:00 p.m.