KISSIMMEE, Fla. --- The No. 3 Biola Eagles started the NCCAA Women's Soccer National Championships with a decisive victory on Monday. Goals from Ashley Ramirez and Madyson Brown gave Biola a 2-0 lead after 14 minutes and the Eagles had a iron grip on possession during the entire duration of their 3-0 victory over Emmanuel.
 
This is the fifth-consecutive clean sheet for Biola and its second straight 3-0 victory in NCCAA competition.
 
The Eagles took 11 shots-on-goal while prohibiting the Lions from taking any shots-on-target during the cool evening at the Austin-Tindall Soccer Complex. All six shot attempts Emmanuel took were taken from outside the 18-yard box and hardly made any threats at Christina Rodriguez in goal.
 
All five of those shots also came after Biola was already in control with a 2-0 lead. Ashley Ramirez helped the Eagles breakthrough just moments after the opening kickoff with a goal off a Sarah Jeffries rebound. Just 90 seconds into the match, Janae Megorden pushed Jeffries' ricochet to Ramirez for her to put in from the top-left corner of the six-yard box.
 
Ramirez continued to contribute to the offense a few minutes later when her cornerkick found the foot of Madyson Brown for another Biola goal. Brown scored her third goal of the season when the first bounce in the scrum fell to her feet around the penalty spot. In one fluid motion, Brown looped the ball toward the crossbar and into the net to give her team two scores in its first four shots of the match.
 
Biola finished with 20 shots on the evening, but really settled into keeping possession for the middle portion of the match. The Eagles maintained excellent spacing on the field throughout the entirety of the match, forcing Emmanuel players to chase the ball as it swung from one open player to the next.
 
That constant chasing made it very difficult for the Lions to bring numbers on their attacks and prevented them from manufacturing a flow on offense and stem the tide of Biola's possession.
 
Late in the game, Samantha Verduzco wrapped the bow on the Eagles' win in the opening match by scoring another goal for Biola on a service to the box. Verduzco was helped by a header from Margaret Guadarrama that attracted the attention of Lions defenders and created an opening to shoot at the opposite post. Verduzco pushed her teammate's pass into the net without much difficulty for her seventh goal of the season.
 
The Eagles' next match in pool play will be Wednesday against Trinity International (Ill.) at 3:00 p.m. (PT). The No. 4 Trojans will play their first match on Tuesday against Emmanuel (Ga.).