Box Score MERCED, Calif. --- When you are as good around the goal as Samantha Verduzco is sometimes all you need is one chance at goal to make the most of your time in the match. That's exactly how this afternoon's match at UC Merced played out as the sophomore scored a game-winning goal 104 minutes into play to give Biola a 2-1 overtime victory.
 
Neither team did much in the first half as neither side could find the proper timing for their runs in the offensive third. Late in the half the number of offsides calls tripled the number of shots-on-goal.
 
Biola had the higher number of shots and shots-on-goal in the lackluster first period and it paid off with a tally in the final minute of the frame.
 
Amanda Otto, who already had three corner kicks under her belt, had a chance at another set piece when Biola was awarded a free kick with just 46 seconds remaining on the clock.
 
She hit the free kick into the box where it found the charging head of Michaila Martin who headed the ball into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
 
Coming out of the halftime break it was the Bobcats who began to take the majority of the offensive opportunities. UC Merced had one shot on goal just 50 seconds into the frame as it ramped up the pressure on Amanda Johnson and the Eagle defense.
 
That pressure came to a head when Veronica Villacorta got on the end of a cross into the box and scored the equalizer on the Bobcats' second shot of the half in the 49^th minute of play.
 
The rest of the second half saw a lot of the ball in the midfield with scattered opportunities on both sides, but nothing with quality enough to threaten the equal score line. Through 80 minutes of play there was just a combined 10 shots in the game.
 
With just over five minutes to play Biola's offense began to push hard into the dangerous attacking zone. UC Merced committed three fouls to attempt to slow the attack before a solid McKenna Marmelstein chance was stopped by a defender in front of the goal. That was the Bobcats' second team save of the game.
 
Another quality chance came for Biola with just over two minutes left in regulation. When an Alexis Lee shot was stopped, Janae Megorden booted a rebound opportunity that forced the UC Merced keeper to make a huge save to keep the score knotted.
 
Aside from one shot over the crossbar that was it for the opportunities in regulation as a 1-1 score line forced the two teams into sudden-death overtime.
 
The Eagles controlled possession just as much throughout overtime as they did for the final bit of the second half, which helped them build a double-digit shot advantage. However, despite getting three good looks at goal Biola was unable to break the tie through the first 10 minutes of the overtime period.
 
The second period of overtime was when the magic happened. The Eagles' team-leader in goals, Samantha Verduzco, had been held without a shot for the entire game until she had an opportunity off a ball from McKenna Marmelstein in the 4^th minute of the second overtime.
 
She took that opportunity and ran with it to record the game-winner on her only shot of the afternoon and improve to five goals on the season.
 
That score preserves Biola's blemish-free 5-0-1 record and dropped UC Merced to a 5-1-1 mark after the home loss.

The No. 22 Eagles are back in action this Saturday evening for a 4:00 p.m. match at SOKA University (2-3). This is Biola's final preseason tilt and is the NAIA Network National Game of the Week.