SAN MARCOS, Calif. --- The Biola Eagles scored an equalizing goal in the second half and fended off the CSU San Marcos Cougars for 120 minutes on Thursday to earn a 1-1 tie on the road.

"It's always a physical battle against [CSU} San Marcos, they do a great job at pressuring teams and disrupting possession," said Head Coach Erin Brunelle. "It took us a while to find the open spaces on the field and we struggled at times to establish a good rhythm in our possession. We're making strides each match in building our play through our midfield and we took a positive step forward in trying to possess the ball against a very fast, athletic, physical side in San Marcos."

After going down 1-0 just before the end of the first half, Brunelle's team became the attacking team in the second half and scored on a deep strike in the 70th minute from left back Rachel Melvin. Biola took a game-high four shots-on-goal during the second half while limiting the Cougars to just one SOG and two corner kicks.

Six of Biola's eight shots-on-goal during the match came after the 60th minute while Cal State San Marcos managed just one shot after the hour-mark and was tagged with a yellow and a red card. Melvin would make her first appearance in the match in the 67th minute and found space enough down the sideline to take a shot at goal just three minutes later.

It seemed Melvin was trying to cross the ball into the box from about 25 yards out, but the ball carried farther than expect and finally crossed the goal line after it sailed over the keeper and glanced off the right post. Melvin's goal is the first of her collegiate career and the first from any newcomer on the women's soccer roster this season.

"Coach told me to look to serve those far post balls to give our attackers a chance to put one in. So when the opportunity came, I hit it at the back post," said Melvin. "[I'm] thankful for all the hard work the girls put into what was a rough game. It was a rewarding experience to give the team a chance to overcome a team we have notoriously lost to in the past, even though we weren't able to find that second goal. "

"The ladies dug deep in the second half to mount a comeback to going down a goal," added Brunelle. "Rachel Melvin stepped on the field and made an immediate impact, getting forward into the attack and serving a ball into the box that curled inside the far post. We'll take any goal we can get, and it lifted the momentum for our ladies. We had a few chances late in the game and in overtime, but we lacked finesse inside the 18."

The Eagles were able to keep a handle on their opponent's attempts to respond through the end of regulation and overtime as the Cougars were forced to play with 10 players. Centerback Danielle Lord made a number of standout plays, especially during overtime, to stop Cougar forwards in their tracks with one-v-one challenges. Melvin provided solid defense over the final 43 minutes of the match after she was inserted. And the Eagles as a group did what they needed to do to clear every one of CSUSM's eight corner kicks during the match.

"We have been challenged in our preseason games thus far, which I hope will prepare us well for PacWest play," said Brunelle. "And today it was great to get Danielle Strickler her first minutes in over a year, and equally great to have Madi deMetropolis and Devin Gooch back in the mix."

Now 1-1-1, Biola will return to action on Saturday when they drive north to face off with CSU Monterey Bay. The match with the 1-1 Otters will kick off at 3:00 p.m. in Seaside, Calif.