Box Score FRESNO, Calif. -- Dominican men's soccer attempted to come back from an early deficit, but was unable to catch up with Fresno Pacific falling 4-2 in the Pacific West Conference opener Thursday.
 
The game was a physical battle with seven yellow cards and one red card awarded to the teams. The Penguins were outshot by the Sunbirds 18-12. Both teams' goalies had six saves apiece. Junior Christian Lathrop and freshman Wyatt Walsh each had three saves for the Penguins (3-2, 0-1 PacWest).
 
The Penguins fell behind in the first half when Brian Leyva made a diving header on a cross from Sergio Bermudez to give the Sunbirds (2-4, 1-0 PacWest) the 1-0 lead in the 21st minute.

Dominican ramped up its offensive pressure and equalized in the 55th minute on junior Diego Vasquez's penalty kick goal. One minute later, Fresno Pacific was awarded a penalty kick of their own and Anthony Velarde put it home to retake the 2-1 lead.
 
Felipe Souza made it 3-1 on a free kick goal in the 58th minute, but the Penguins continued to battle. Junior Colin Gunby headed a ball over to junior Tanner Herrero who headed it past the keeper to cut the Sunbirds lead back to one. Bruno Brumati then slotted home a deflected ball in the 68th minute to regain a two-goal advantage for Fresno Pacific for good.
 
The Penguins will continue PacWest play Saturday as they travel to San Francisco to face Academy of Art at 2:30 p.m. PDT. Live stats and video will be available online.