LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- Biola Men's Water Polo fell just three goals short in its 13-10 loss to Ottawa at the De Mandel Aquatics Center on the campus of Occidental College in game three of the Gary Troyer Tournament on Saturday morning. 


The Eagles continue to embrace the big-little victories the program experiences in its first year of competition as Biola scored more than ten goals for only the second time this season and a trio of Eagles scored multiple goals in the 13-10 loss to Ottawa. 

Ottawa held Biola scoreless and limited the Eagles to only three shots in the first quarter securing an early 4-0 lead. The big first quarter proved to be the difference as the Eagles out scored the Spirit 10-9 in the final three quarters. 

"We got off to a slow start and that pushed us back a bit," commented Head Coach Rick Nordell. "We are still working to adapt and find the right defense that works best for our team."

A Matthew-Matthew connection put the Eagles on the board as Matthew Vinson connected with Matthew Rodriguez for Biola's first score of the game. Maxwell Osborn brought Biola within three as he tacked on Biola's second score of the quarter. 

After back-to-back goals for the Spirit, Nolan Rapp took advantage of Ottawa playing one man down and dented the twine for a 7-3 score in the third quarter. Christian Trapp added another for BU with only six seconds remaining in the quarter. 

Down 11-4, Biola went to work in the fourth quarter outscoring Ottawa 6-2. Five Eagles scored goals in the final frame of the game, Rodriguez, Jonas Huckabay, Vinson and Rapp each scored a goal while Wulf converted two scores for Biola. 

In the cage, Mitchell Carpenter stopped the Spirit from scoring 10 times and posted a .435 save percentage. Carpenter also logged an assist and a steal for Biola. 

The Spirit outshot the Eagles 34-19 but Biola posted a .526 shooting percentage to Ottawa's .382, another big-little victory for Biola. While the Eagles have only secured one win on the season plenty of progress has been made in their debut season. 

Biola will look to get in the win column as Nordell and his squad prepare for the Battle of the Eagles, with Biola taking on Concordia at 3:30 p.m. for their final action in the Gary Troyer Tournament.