FRESNO, Calif.— Dominican men's soccer was unable to hold on in the second half, falling to Fresno Pacific University 1-2 Wednesday night at Ramirez Field.
Junior midfielder
Roberto Garcia netted Dominican's lone goal of the night, and his second of the season. Junior goalkeeper
Ruben Raygoza collected 4 saves, but it wasn't enough to fend off the Sunbirds for all 90 minutes.
Fresno Pacific (3-6-0, 1-1-0 PacWest) was led by goal scorers Fellipe Souza and Caesar Angulo. Goalkeeper Patrick Timmer finished the night with 6 saves, while FPU's defense held Dominican to just three shots taken in the second half.
FPU ran to an early lead as Souza juked his defender and curled the ball into the lower left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute of the match. Dominican (1-6-1, 0-2-0 PacWest) and Fresno Pacific exchanged attempts back and forth, leading to a corner kick, giving the Sunbirds a chance to extend their lead. Anthony Torres took the kick and connected with Souza, but Souza hit the crossbar on the header attempt in the 17
th minute and the Penguins were able to clear the ball.
In the 35
th minute the Penguins retaliated as
Thomas Van Schoor played up to Garcia, and Garcia hit the top left corner of the net, past the diving reach of Timmer for the equalizer.
After trading offensive attacks to begin the second half, FPU earned a corner kick, taken by Fritz Volmer who connected with Raul Jazo for a header on goal, but Raygoza was there to make the grab to keep the Sunbirds from advancing in front of the Penguins.
In the 70
th minute the Sunbirds created another opportunity to redeem themselves as they drew a foul, setting up a free kick just outside of the box. Torres took the free kick bending it toward the net, and Angulo headed it past Raygoza to give Fresno Pacific the 2-1 lead. The Sunbirds held the Penguins to just one shot for the remainder of regulation, sealing the win over Dominican.
The Penguins will return home to Kennelly Field this Saturday to take on Biola at 2:30 p.m. PDT. Live video and stats will be available online.