LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It was a really big week for Biola University Athletics between Oct. 16^th and 22^nd. The Eagles' successes were celebrated by the Golden State Athletic Conference with representatives from volleyball, men's soccer and women's soccer all winning GSAC Athlete of the Week honors.
 
The men's soccer team posted a pair of 2-0 victories last week, including a big upset of previously undefeated No. 17 Hope International in the middle of the week. The entire Eagles' defense played a critical role in recording two shutout victories, but the Biola keeper, Igor Puglia, stood out above the rest to earn his second GSAC Defender of the Week honor this year.
 
Puglia posted nine saves, including a penalty kick stop, to record his eighth and ninth shutouts of the 2016 season. Puglia improved his record to 10-4 and helped keep the Eagles right in the thick of things near the top of the conference. He and Biola's defense have allowed a GSAC-low five goals in 14 matches this year.
 
The defense on the women's soccer side has been just as good this season, resulting in Biola Women's Soccer outscoring its opponents at better than an 8:1 clip this season. Sophomore Madyson Brown has been critical to that effort as a returning NAIA All-American first team center back.

This week she was one of four Eagles to play all 180 minutes as the team earned two more GSAC wins to improve to 13-0-1 overall and 7-0-1 in GSAC play. She helped the team shutout San Diego Christian on Saturday's senior night and added a goal and assist this week to earn GSAC Defender of the Week for women's soccer.
 
Biola Volleyball has won four matches in a row and is riding high headed into tomorrow night's huge home match against No. 1 Westmont (27-0). The Eagles went 2-0 last week during its road trip to William Jessup and Menlo. Biola did not drop a set during the trip and has won 12 of the 13 sets played during its four-match winning streak.

The Eagles' strong play was rewarded with two players being recognized for their performance on the court. Sophomore Karly Dantuma was named GSAC Attacker of the Week and junior libero Tess Van Grouw earned another GSAC Defender of the Week honor.
 
Dantuma won the award after compiling 28 kills in six sets (4.67 per set) to help power the explosive Biola attack past the Oaks and Warriors. She was consistently coming through when the setters looked her way with an incredible .511 hitting percentage on the week.
 
Van Grouw was her usual calm, cool, steady self in the two matches up in NorCal. She claimed back the conference lead in total digs by accumulating 31 digs in the two matches and passing Westmont's Kami Troesh with 479 digs this season.
 
All three teams are back in action this week. Men and Women's Soccer finish their regular season schedules with the NorCal trip, while Biola Volleyball hosts Westmont on Tuesday, Life Pacific on Wednesday and The Master's University for its senior night on Saturday.