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Scoreboard

HIU Win
1
HIU HIU (3-3-1)
2
Winner BU-WS BU-WS (4-0)
HIU HIU
(3-3-1)
1
Final
2
BU-WS BU-WS
(4-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
HIU HIU 0 1 1
BU-WS BU-WS 1 1 2

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | | Brandon Taylor, Assistant Sports Information Director

Eagles Perfect In Preseason

Biola is 4-0 headed into PacWest play.

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The Biola Eagles will probably have a lot of good feelings when they look at the PacWest table this week. After the Eagles' 2-1 defeat of Hope International on Saturday night, Biola is the only undefeated team in the PacWest headed into the beginning of conference play.

The visiting Royals (3-3-1) gave the Eagles a run with an equalizing goal early in the second half, but a goal from forward Sarah Jeffries in the 84th minute put the match away for Biola's fourth-straight win.

"Hope is a much improved side; they definitely gave us a tough battle," said Head Coach Erin Brunelle.  "We saw some holes in our organization defensively that we'll take as a challenge this week to fix because we know Dixie State has a very dynamic offense. It was a great preseason match for us and I was impressed with our girls desire to fight and come back after letting a goal in early in the second half."

The level of discipline both sides demonstrated in the match made for a lot of play in the middle third of the field. The teams combined for just three shots through the first ten minutes of play until right back Bri Mikalson tried to open up the attack a bit.

With six Eagles in the 18-yard box for a corner kick, Mikalson took a short pass off the dead ball and launched it toward goal from about 23 yards out. Her shot sailed high enough to force keeper Jacqueline Talley to punch the ball by leaving her feet, thereby creating an open opportunity for Madyson Brown to score as Talley fell flat to the turf.

"Our backline really wants to be the most offensive defense we can be so we've been looking to create opportunities with each other," said Mikalson. "They did not really have a lot of pressure coming up on us so I just tried to take the opportunities and be more offensive tonight."

Brown's first goal of the season stood for the remainder of the first half while the Eagles defense worked to counter the Royals attack. HIU peppered Christina Rodriguez with seven shots in the first 45 minutes and finished off the period by forcing her to make two saves. Rodriguez finished the night with her highest save total so far this season (4).

The visiting team finally broke through to tie things up ten minutes into the second half when the Royals midfielders found space to work in front of the box. Jazzmyn Esquivel and Kelly Ruiz worked a rapid give-and-go to set Esquivel up for a strike inside the right post that made the score 1-1.

It really seemed like momentum was up for grabs after the equalizer. The Eagles were creating chances but found themselves offsides in their initial attacks after the goal. But those initial attacks became the building blocks for a seven-to-one advantage in shots between Esquivel's strike and Jeffries game-winner with five minutes to play.

Samantha Verduzco began the sequence of plays that led to the goal by taking an errant shot that resulted in a goal kick. Hope International's second keeper, Casey Pulido, then took a kick that only went about 30 yards and as far as Verduzco.

That kick allowed the Eagles to receive the space they need for an instant counter-attack. Verduzco took three dribbles and passed to a cutting Jeffries, who beat one defender and put it past Pulido for the victory.

The Eagles next match will be their PacWest opener and will require them to travel to St. George, Utah. They face the Dixie State Trailblazer on Sept. 23 at 9:00 a.m. (PT).
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