SAN DIEGO --- Coming off of a solid win at home against Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday, the Biola Eagles were looking to claim another notch for their belts on Saturday at UC San Diego. 

The Tritons came into the match with a 3-0 record and two bigs wins at home against PacWest teams: a 5-0 blowout of Concordia on September 5th and a 2-0 shutout of then-No. 25 Fresno Pacific on the 7th. UC San Diego hadn't lost a match at home in over a year and had given up a goal this season either, but the Eagles played without the slightest hint of intimidation and fought to win til the closing whistle.

Head Coach Todd Elkins' group brought pace on the ball upfield and sturdy defense in the back to prohibit the Tritons from scoring during the first 45 minutes and well into the second half. Senior Hunter Finnegan stayed on the backline all night and was locked in at right back while Jake Munivez and Alejandro Pelayo took command of the space in front of goal. And that made things quite manageable for goalkeeper JD Gunn, as the redshirt freshman saved two shots in the first half to keep things knotted up.

The tenor of the match didn't change in noticeable measure for the first half hour of the second period. The Tritons continued to pepper shots that were either wide or blocked for the first 30 minutes of the second half and raised their total up to 20 total shots by the end of the match.

But an opportunity to follow a loose ball at the end line resulted in a goal for UC San Diego that gave the home team the lead with 13 minutes remaining. Midfielder Max Gonda just tried to keep the ball alive by heading it back toward the goal mouth as he ran out of bounds. But the ball bounced on top of the crossbar and away from Gunn to cross the goalline inside the left post.

Seven minutes later the Tritons created another opening and scored again to take a 2-0 lead. But the Eagles clawed back and got a good sign for the matches going forward with Leo Thompson's first goal of the year.

Shortly after the ball was put in play after the second goal, Biola cleared the ball forward for Thompson to chase after as it carried to the UCSD keeper. Pedro Enciso misplayed the clearance and Thompson poked it away from an open-net goal after poking it away from Enciso with just over five minutes left. 

Unfortunately, the Eagles couldn't produce any more shots after Thompson's goal and the match simply ended as the Tritons' toughest test of the season thus far, not their first loss.

Biola will return home for its match, coming this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Eagles will host Cal State Dominguez Hills.