LA MIRADA, Calif. --- A beautiful day to play soccer at Al Barbour Field just got better as Saturday's NCCAA West Regional match progressed. The Eagles took 35 shots and scored three times in a decisive shutout-victory over the Ottawa (Ariz.) Spirit.
The victory rewards Biola with the automatic bid into the NCCAA Women's Soccer Championships in Kissimmee, Florida that will begin on Nov. 28. It also concludes the Eagles' home schedule with an exclamation point, securing Head Coach Erin Brunelle's team a 9-0-1 record at Al Barbour Field in 2017.
"It was a great win for us to get one last match here at Al Barbour [Field} and a great way to send off our seniors this season by advancing to the final site," said Brunelle. "For the majority of the game we were on the attack and we did well to keep the play in front of us. Having a season of high-competition to play against prepared us to put together waves of attack against them while keeping sharp defensively."
The Eagles definitely bolstered their defense on Saturday with outstanding offensive pressure. The pressure the home team applied to the Spirit's defensive-third in the first half resulted in 20 shots for Biola and prevent OUAZ from taking any offensives chances.
Midfielder Hali Oakes took three shots-on-goal in her return to the Eagles starting 11 and ended up scoring her first goal of the season with a rifled shot from just outside the 18-yard box. After Sarah Yang's attempt at a cross was initially deflected by a Spirit defender in the 34th minute, Oakes found the ball rolling toward her and one-timed it into the bottom-right corner to stake her team to a lead.
Brunelle's team got a second goal from a midfielder two minutes before the halftime break. In the aftermath of a Maddie Zimmerman cornerkick, Alexis Lee made a run to the left side of the endline before serving a ball toward the top of the six for Janae Megorden. The senior captain took one step forward to meet the ball and the pushed it past the Spirit's keeper to beat her to the right post.
"I thought the second group of attackers came in playing with a little bit more intensity and bite, going after their backline and put them under pressure," said Brunelle. "They opened up the space behind them for our midfielders to find the seams that we weren't really finding at the beginning of the first half. It was nice to see both Hali and Janae get on the end of those cut-balls back and be able to bury them."
OUAZ finally manufactured its first two shots of the match in the opening minutes of the second half. But the Eagles put the match away when
Cat Newberry surprised the visiting defense with a direct kick from 25-yards out in the 68th minute. Newberry scored her second goal in the last week, and the second goal of her career, by sending a set ball sailing toward the top of the frame and over the leaping Emily Kriplean for a 3-0 lead.
The senior captain and the rest of her backline continued to work for the final 22 minutes after the goal to secure Biola's fourth-straight shutout. The Eagles have not conceded a goal in their last 447 minutes of play, nearly the equivalent of five matches, and have the opportunity to collect more clean sheets when the travel to Florida after Thanksgiving.
The NCCAA Women's Soccer Championships will consist of nine teams composed of six regional representatives and three at-large teams. Biola will find out where it seeded after the other NCCAA regions complete their championships next week and will play its first match as early as Nov. 28.
"We're excited to find out more about the tournament process, find out what our seeding is and who or first games will be against," said Brunelle. "We'll have a good week and a half of training to try to stay sharp and healthy. But we're just really excited to head over there to try to win a national championship."
Follow athletics.biola.edu in the coming week for more information on the Eagles' place in the NCCAA National Championship.
