LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Men's Soccer dropped its final tune-up of the preseason on Friday night, falling 2-1 to Concordia University Irvine at Al Barbour Field. A pair of penalty kicks in the final minutes of the first half turned the match on its head.
Jeremy Larson opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, burying a shot to the bottom of the net off an assist from Kyle Denn to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. It was a phenomenally placed shot that had the crowd surge with excitement.
Larson's shot was not the only great one from Biola in the first period. Early on
Kyle Denn shot a laser beam just under the crossbar, which CUI's keeper staged a miracle save to turn aside with a flailing punch.Â
Unfortunately for the home team, this lead lasted less than a minute. CUI answered with a penalty kick goal in the 23rd minute, and after Biola was whistled for another foul in the box just over three minutes later, CUI converted a second penalty kick at 27th minute to take that 2-1 lead.
CUI out-shot Biola 4-to-1 in the second half, and the Eagles could not find the equalizer, finishing the match with just four total shots to CUI's 13. Most of the second period was spent in the midfield as neither team showed much of a dangerous attack.
Elijah Mineiro started in goal for the Eagles and played the full 90 minutes, allowing just the two penalty kick goals.
It was another fiercely contested battle in this long-standing rivalry. The match featured five yellow cards for Biola and four for CUI, with a flurry of cards issued at the 54:11 mark in the second half. Tonight's match was the 49th all-time between this pair of teams and Concordia recorded its 18th win.
Biola closed the preseason at 0-5-2. The Eagles open PacWest Conference play next as they host Chaminade on Saturday, September 26.
