NCCAA West Regional Match Preview

Eagles play for the right to travel to Florida for Nationals.

November 10, 2017

By: Brandon Taylor, Assistant Sports Information Director

OTTAWA (ARIZ.) SOCCER INFORMATION

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The Biola Eagles and Ottawa (Ariz.) will face off on Saturday in the NCCAA Women's Soccer West Regional for the right to travel to Kissimmee, Florida at the end of the month for the NCCAA Championships.

Kickoff in the West Regional is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and the teams will partner for a canned food drive as their NCCAA Christian Service Project for the event. All fans will be asked bring canned food item(s) to donate in exchange for admission to the match. The donations will go to a local church.

The 12-3-2 Eagles come into the match ranked No. 2 in the NCCAA national rankings while Ottawa (Ariz.) makes its first trip to La Mirada, California with a 9-6-2 record. The Spirit made appearances in the NCCAA rankings for the majority of season before dropping off the poll in the Nov. 7 release.

For the past month the Eagles have concentrated their focus and efforts toward navigating the difficulties of PacWest competition in order to simply qualify for NCCAA postseason play.

But now that they are here at the West Regional match, it is safe to say that Biola could not have prepared for this day any better. The Eagles have played the best soccer of their season over the past 31 days and have been on a season-long roll at Al Barbour Field.

Head Coach Erin Brunelle's team is 6-1-1 since Oct. 11 and has only allowed two goals to its opponents during those eight matches. The Eagles have not surrendered a goal in over three matches, a total of 357 minutes, while keepers Christina Rodriguez and Alyssa Joel have needed to make just five saves.

Biola also took its dominance at home to a new level in October, going 4-0-1 at home with an 8-to-1 goal differential. The PacWest recognized three Eagles players for those impressive statistics just this past Monday, selecting forward Samantha Verduzco and defenders Madyson Brown and Colie Martin for all-conference honors.

In contrast to the Eagles' week of preparation coming into the match, Ottawa (Ariz.) has had 13 days since its last match to practice and sharpen its plan of attack.

The Spirit went 3-3-2 during its last month of play, including a 20-0 victory over Shepherd University on Oct. 21 and a 6-0 shutout against Grace University on Oct. 28. The teams have no common opponents this season, but OUAZ was 2-1 against Biola's former conference peers in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

One of the more interesting things to watch for in this first meeting between the Eagles and Spirit will be the way each team analyzes their opponent on the fly. As newcomers to the NCAA Division II and the PacWest, the Eagles were unfamiliar with the majority of the opponents on their schedule this season and had to develop the ability to notice openings when play had already started.

Ottawa (Ariz.) faced nearly identical circumstances as a true first-year program that began its season with a stretch of road matches while construction on the OUAZ home field was completed.

For those unable to watch the action at Al Babour Field, the match will also be live streamed at portal.stretchinternet.com/biola.

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