La Mirada, Calif - In front of a big crowd, the Cal State San Marcos men's soccer team took down Biola, 2-1, in a nonconference match on Friday, Sept. 8 at Al Barbour Field.
 
On a beautiful give and go between senior Victor Gonzalez and freshman Jacob Cuccia, the Cougars were able to jump out out to an early one goal lead. Gonzalez got a great ball on the left side from Cuccia and scored his team-leading second goal of the season. Roughly just five minutes later it was freshman Rodrigo Rodriguez scoring with a left footed strike and scoring his first collegiate goal to make it a two goal lead for CSUSM just 13 minutes into the match.

Biola totaled five shots in the second half, but CSUSM was able to preserve a one goal lead to victory.
 
The Cougars improve to 2-1-1 overall while Biola drops to 0-2-1 following the loss.
 
"I thought we looked great at times and for the first 30 minutes or so I thought we were in total control of the match," said head coach Ron Pulvers. "We were able to take what we learned in our last match and apply it today and able to close out against a tough club in Biola." 
 
Offensively, junior Bryan Morrison and Rodriguez both finished with three shots apiece while putting two on goal. Freshman Jacob Cuccia picked up his first point of the season with his assist on the Gonzalez goal. Sophomore Alex Franklin finished with three saves including two critical saves in the second half.
 
CSUSM came out firing on all cylinders and completely controlled the first half of the match. BU raised their level of play in the second half for BU who outshot CSUSM 12-9 for the match with five of those coming in the final 45 minutes.
 
Jarret Pugh was able to put BU on the scoreboard in the 57th minute, scoring on a long throw in from Hunter Finnegan. In his first career start for Biola, goalkeeper Alex Muir made four total saves against CSUSM.
 
CSUSM will begin CCAA play at home on Friday, Sept. 15 as they welcome Stanislaus State to The Cage. Match is scheduled for 3 p.m.