COSTA MESA, Calif. — While battling a playoff-positioned Vanguard Lions team on their home pitch, Head Coach Joey O'Keefe's team had a bounce-back performance to earn a 1-1 draw at the Lions.
A Luca McGreevey Couchman goal, his fourth of the season, put Biola ahead 1-0 in the 31st minute. That lead held at halftime, but the home team found the twine shortly after the break in order to knot the score at one.
McGreevey Couchman scored on a low shot to the right side off of a feed pass from
Lamar McKenzie. That duo has combined for 10 points this season. It was McKenzie's 4th assist, which leads the team.
Biola's goal was one of just four shots on goal for the Eagles in this one. They were forced to play on their heels throughout due to a flurry of offensive tries from the home team, who were looking to make the most of their alumni appreciation day.
The Lions' offense looked every bit like the team that hung six goals on Westmont earlier this week. Meanwhile, coach O'Keefe's boys, led by Francesco Tricarico looked nothing like the side that surrendered seven to Concordia on Wednesday.
Vanguard managed 22 total shots, including nine on target. Tricarico, the sophomore goalkeeper from Cerignola, Italy, set a new season-high with eight saves. Thankfully for Tricarico, his teammates stepped up and forced all Vanguard shots over the final 15 minutes of play to be off-target, leading to quite a few goal kicks for BU.
The Eagles had one last chance with a goal kick in the final 15 seconds, but could not link together the passes to find a go-ahead buzzer-beater effort.
The draw was a promising result for the Eagles, who close out their road season with this one. The BU team finished the year 3-1-3 in matches away from Al Barbour Field.
The Eagles move to 6-6-4 overall and 3-4-2 in PacWest Conference competition. The draw drops Vanguard to 7-4-4 overall and 5-1-2 in league play.
Biola will finish its season this week when Al Barbour Field hosts Senior Night on Thursday, November 6. The Eagles will battle Fresno Pacific (5-7-2, 4-2-1 PacWest) in an effort to match its 2024 win total (7). Biola is 30-31-5 all-time against Fresno Pacific. The Eagles have won five in a row against FPU and have not lost to them in La Mirada since 2018.
