Air Force Academy, Colorado — Two long scoring stretches from the hosting Air Force Academy Falcons made the difference in Biola Men's Water Polo's first effort at the USAFA Rare Air Tournament.

The Eagles scored first in the match, but long scoring stretches at the beginning and end of the second period made for a wide gap that held in a 15-8 win for the Falcons despite the teams playing essentially even water polo for three of the four quarters. 

This match also counted as a Western Water Polo Association clash for these two teams, dropping Biola to 0-3 in league play so far in 2022.

For Biola, the effort was an improvement over the 2021 result against Air Force, which was a 14-6 decision in favor of the Falcons.

The Eagles' defense was strong in the early going, using several takeaways and blocked shots to hold the Falcons scoreless for the first six minutes and seven seconds of play. Nolan Rapp tallied the game's first goal as he netted a perfectly-place shot in the upper-oppo corner from the 2-3 spot.

That goal came just under two minutes into the match and gave Biola a lead for nearly five minutes. That alone was a huge improvement from last year's match with USAFA, where the Falcons staked a 5-0 lead after the first period of play at SPLASH! Aquatic Center.

The defensive effort was notable against a USAFA team that came into the match with the top two point-earners in all of the country (Grant Snyder, Ian Christie). 

When the Falcons finally found the twine it began a stretch of scoring for them that turned the game from 0-1 to 3-1 in their favor. Freshman Jake Dixon scored the second and third goals of that stretch to give the Falcons a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the match.

Joshua Halopoff scored to tighten it back to 3-2 in favor of USAFA, but then the Falcons finished the second period with five-consecutive scores to take a comfortable 8-2 advantage into half time.

Things evened back up in the second half, thanks in large part to a very hot start from BU. The Eagles were forcing stops on defense to set up a scenario where Head Coach Rick Nordell's side could cash in with three of the first four goals scored in the second half.

Kenney Wulf scored two goals separated by just 41 seconds when he netted Biola's third and fourth score at the 5:41- and 5:00-minute mark in the third period. He and Halopoff would both score multiple goals for Biola in this one.

Gavin Oliver got in the mix with 3:11 remaining in the third period as he and Maxwell Osborn connected on a one-timed effort right in front of the opposing keeper. Oliver swam past his defender as he worked his way from the one spot to center cage, he caught a dry lob pass from Osborn and sidearmed it right around the USAFA keeper.

His goal got the game back to a good competitive balance, with the Falcons ahead by just four goals at 9-5.

Unfortunately for BU, the Falcons scored five of the next six goals tallied in the contest to break it open once again. Two of those five came from the nation's leading scorer, Snyder, who's already got nearly 70 goals this year.

Biola took advantage of an Air Force penalty and a power play opportunity as Halopoff scored the team's next two goals to record his first hat trick of the 2022 season. Will Tibbetts netted his fourth goal of the year in the game's 33rd minute to close out the scoring and lock in the final score at 15-8. 

Air Force won all four sprints in this contest and scored on just under 50 percent of its total shots taken to lead to their advantage. The win allows them to improve to 14-4 on the season. Biola falls to 2-10 on the year and prepares for its next matchup in Colorado, a 2:30 p.m. affair against first-year program LIU (1-4).