GOODYEAR, Ariz. --- The aggressiveness Head Coach Jane Carr's group played with in Tuesday's round at the Western New Mexico Fall Invitational certainly paid off in the early going. The Eagles jumped up to sole possession of third place and were +1 as a team through the first nine holes before they finished with a team score of 305 on the day and an eighth-place finish.

All five student-athletes were at +1 or better when they approached their 10th tee on Tuesday. Sophia Karnazes and Jules Liobl each made par on their first five holes, and Liobl would remain even for nine additional holes thereafter, while Alexis Gopfert and Sami Penor both sank birdies on 12 to give Biola a slight edge over Western Washington for third place.

The Eagles began to slip a bit after producing one more birdie as a team in their final seven or so holes but the solid start resulted in a team score of 305, which is still an improvement on every round they played in last year and currently stands as the third-best single-rund team score in program history.

Each of Biola's players carded a 78 or better on the day, which resulted in Sophia Karnazes turning in the best improvement in the group after she took six fewer strokes in the second round. Gopfert shot a 75 (+4) to move up eight spots on the individual leaderboard and get the Eagles three top-40 finishers in the 98-player field. Freshman Sami Penor is included in that group and recorded a 75 on Thursday in what figures to be the first of many top-20 finishes for the Henderson, Nevada native.

Biola will move onto the NCCAA West Regional next week having topped 10 other teams at the WNMU Fall Invitational. Those 10 team include Point Loma, who was the only other PacWest team in the field and finished 18 strokes behind the Eagles.

Biola will travel to the Indian Springs Golf Course in Indio, California on Monday to try earn an automatic bid into the NCCAA National Championships that are played in late October.