Geneva, Ohio — The Biola Men's Water Polo team took down the defending champion Salem Tigers in a WWPA Championships quarterfinal matchup on Friday afternoon in Ohio. 

The Eagles defeated Salem 15-14 in a thrilling battle, where Biola scored its go-ahead to take its first and only lead of the game with just two minutes and five seconds left on the clock. A Joshua Dachenhausen block with just five seconds left sealed the win for the Eagles and punched a third consecutive semifinal berth.

"We talked about patient endurance, which is a Biblical truth we've leaned on for the duration of this season," said Head Coach Jens Cole. "It big games like that you need that level of mental endurance. We really leaned on our faith and got the job done defensively."

It is the second time these two sides met at the WWPA Championships. Salem took a 19-18 win in a semifinal matchup last year in the only other postseason meeting. The Eagles move on to face No. 1 east seed Gannon (13-9, 3-1 WWPA) in the semifinals on Saturday.

Adam Lavoy was the primary scorer for Biola in its comeback effort. The senior from Texas ended with four goals and four assists in a massive performance. 

"I want to highlight Isaiah 6:8 where the voice of the Lord says 'who shall I send' and I said here I am, send me Lord," said Lavoy. "I was just fired up living off that scripture and trying to score any goal I can."

Noah Ryznar and Nick Murray added three clutch goals each while Alec Abrahamian notched two. Murray was especially critical in the early going for BU, scoring three of the team's first five goals. Caleb Hernandez, Isaac Demski, and Kyle Seifen all scored solo goals. 

Joshua Dachenhausen had an impressive game between the posts with 11 saves on a .440 save percentage, one being a 5-meter which was pivotal to sway momentum in the fourth quarter.

"We asked a lot of Dach today. The defense we were running, we were going to give up shots," said Cole. "We asked a lot of him in terms of his movement in the cage. He did a great job of covering water and coming up with big saves. The block on the five-meter was kind of the back-breaker in my opinion."

In the first period, Salem got out to a quick two-goal lead before Murray got BU on the board, capitalizing on a power play opportunity. The two sides exchanged scores, and Ryznar capped the quarter with a late goal to make it 4–3 in favor of the Tigers.

The Eagles would match the Tigers' fast-paced scoring in the second. Hernandez scored on the first possession, tying the game at four all. After a Salem score, Murray found the back of the net, knotting the score at five. Late goals from Abrahamian and Lavoy would bring Biola to within one going into the halftime break, 9-8.

While Biola never led the game until those final two minutes, it continued to answer the Salem scoring all throughout those first 30 minutes, never trailing by more than three goals and scoring game-tying goals five different times before the Kyle Seifin goal from the four-spot finally put Biola over the top.

"We had a plan going into this game. We had players we needed to shut down on that team, and we just needed to execute as best we could. That ended up working out for us tonight," said Murray.

This Biola vs. Salem matchup is beginning to be an automatic classic as the two teams have played to a margin of one or two goals each of the last three times out.

"I am giving a lot of credit to coach Rick Nordell. He did a great job setting the foundation the first four years here," said Cole. "Rick set out a good plot of land and built a good framework for the home and we are just building on top of that. The seniors stepped up and pit in a lot of big minutes for us."

"This was a step in the road we need to take to get back to where we were in 2023. This is one step in the journey and we have to get through the rest of them now," said Murray.

The Eagles' semifinal matchup is scheduled for 12 p.m. eastern/9 a.m. pacific on Saturday morning at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The game will be live streamed at this link. Live statistics through the FOSH can be foun at this link.