LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Riding into the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament semifinals with a bye and 11 days of preparation, the No. 8 Biola Eagles will face a respected foe in No. 11 Westmont on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. The winner of the match will earn the right to play in the final on Saturday against either Vanguard or The Master's.
This semifinal matchup is the first meeting between these two teams since Biola shocked the Warriors with a 1-0 overtime victory in Santa Barbara on Oct. 5. In a war of attrition, the Eagles' defense weathered everything that the Warriors could throw at them offensively and finally wore down their opponents to the tune of an own goal just three minutes into the overtime period.
The Warriors may find it difficult to find the onion bag again on Thursday as Westmont's scoring numbers indicate recent difficulty in scoring against sides with strong defenses. Westmont has played five matches against teams who finished in the top-5 of the GSAC in goals allowed during conference play, managing a 2-2-1 record on six goals.
In particular, the last two matches the Warriors have played against top-5 GSAC defenses have resulted in a hard fought 1-1 tie against The Master's and a 1-0 win in double-overtime against Menlo on Nov. 4.
That lack of scoring is massively significant and outside the norm for a Westmont team that has only lost twice the entire season and ranks sixth in the NAIA with 72 goals. But the recent precedent for Westmont should give the Eagles confidence that they can use their All-GSAC defense to disrupt the Warriors game plan and set the pace of play.
Biola tops the list of GSAC teams for goals allowed, only surrendering three goals in 10Â conference matches.
The home-field advantage should also be very helpful for Biola. Most Eagles fans know that the Eagles are undefeated at home this season, but Al Barbour Field is also the easiest place for Biola to rack up goals. Biola has scored two goals or more in seven its eight victories at home and has amassed a whopping 17 goals during the five GSAC matches it has played at Al Barbour Field this year.
And if the Eagles want to find a reason to claim that they have a harder offense to stop than Westmont, they only have to look to the distribution of game-winning goals during conference play.
With Westmont's defeat of Menlo, both teams in this semifinal have eight wins this season against GSAC opponents. During their respective victories, seven individual Eagles have scored game-winning goals while the Warriors have only seen four different players score game-winners.
Biola may be able to win the match by marking those four scorers, but Westmont may have to work much harder to mark the Eagles' formation because Biola has the larger number of players who have they already depended on to win matches when the pressure is on.
The kick-off for the semifinal is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. All-GSAC players on both teams will be honored during pre-game introductions. The first 150 Biola students to come to the match will receive FREE admission courtesy Biola SGA.
