LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Viviana Poli was so good in goal during Biola's 1-0 shutout of Seattle Pacific on Saturday that she garnered two Defender of the Week awards on Monday. The Covina, California native was recognized at the national level by the NCCAA and at the conference level by the PacWest after turning in the first clean sheet of her collegiate career.

The freshman follows Men's Cross Country Athlete Gabe Plendcio as the second Biola student-athlete to earn a PacWest and NCCAA award in the same week in 2018.

Poli shoutout a Seattle Pacific side that had scored six goals in its previous two matches and came into its matchup with Biola with an undefeated record. The keeper played a big role in making Sarah Jeffries goal in the 10th minute stand for the 1-0 victory, making a season-high six saves and four in the second half alone.

In particular, Poli made two spectacular saves against the Falcons' Sophia Chilczuk. Three minutes after Biola scored its goal, Poli stuffed Chilczuk's clean breakaway toward goal by jumping off her line and cutting off the forward's shooting path at the midway point of the penalty area. Then Poli came up with the highlight of the night four minutes into the second half when she made a diving punch on a rocket Chilczuk launched from 22 yards out.

"Viviana came up with huge saves in the second half. I can think of two saves particularly that could've easily been a tying and a go-ahead goal for them," said Head Coach Erin Brunelle after Saturday's match. "She's been growing this season just having to play as many minutes as she has as a freshman. But she's been training well and building her confidence and hopefully this will help grow her confidence even more."

Poli and the Eagles have their final two non-conference matches this week, squaring off with Point Loma at home on Friday before driving to Irvine to take on Concordia on Saturday.