HILO, Hawaii--No. 4 seed
Biola ended a dramatic and improbable weekend with an NCAA tournament berth after advancing via penalty kicks over
Concordia on Saturday afternoon at the UH Hilo Soccer Field.
The Eagles and Golden Eagles battled for 110 scoreless minutes in the PacWest Championship before Biola won the shootout, 5-4. To win the PacWest Tournament title, Biola beat the #1 seed (Point Loma) and the #2 seed (Concordia).
Biola will head to the postseason, but so likely will Concordia who came into the weekend ranked No. 3 in the west region. Point Loma, who fell to the Eagles, came in at No. 5 and they will await the NCAA Selection Show verdict on Monday night.
Today's match was a cinema of defense. Both squads, featuring excellent goalkeepers in
Sami Robinson (Biola) and
Christiana Sidoti (Concordia) led the backline of defense. In the first half, each team had just two shots on goal in a scoreless 45 minutes.
The offensive pace picked up in the second half, with Sidoti making a leaping save to tip a shot over the crossbar, while Biola's
Briley Phelps banged another ball off the post. In the final minute of regulation, CUI had three corner kicks including two dangerous balls, but Biola escaped without giving up a score.
Each team had a couple of opportunities in the first overtime, and the second 10-minute period featured even more near misses. Sidoti had two more athletic saves as Phelps put the pressure on. Still, at 110 minutes, there were no scores on the board.
In the shootout, all five Biola shooters scored, including the goalkeeper Robinson. Robinson also made the lone save in the extra time to give BU the 5-4 edge. The Eagles had conversions from Phelps, Robinson,
Hayden Gehring, Taylin Laws and the clincher by
Taylor Bradshaw. Concordia had tallies from
Sarah Venegas, Antonello Russo, Bella Barrett, and
Kalli Cho.
Robinson was named the Most Outstanding Defender in the tournament, while Phelps was selected as the Most Outstanding Player.
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