Dominican dropped its second contest of the season, losing 4-1 to the Sunbirds of Fresno Pacific behind a trio of early tallies.
The Sunbird onslaught started early and lasted through the first portion of the game as FPU found the back of the net three times in the first 11 minutes of the match. The third and final goal came at the 10:38 mark of the frame as FPU's Jacob Bear kicked a through pass to Fellipe Souza, sending him on a partial break before finding the bottom left corner of the goal and extending the Sunbird lead to three.
Dominican controlled the tempo for the remainder of the half, often finding itself on the attacking half of the pitch. The Penguins first shot on goal came in the 35
th minute when
Ivan Galvan sent his free kick towards the goal, but Sunbird goalkeeper Logan Dinsdale was equal to the task as he made his first save of the evening.
FPU led 3-0 at the half, also owning a 6-2 lead in total shots and a 3-1 lead in shots on goal. Dominican owned a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks while three Penguins — Chris Barrios,
Louie Galdamez and
Logan Siemers — logged all 45 minutes of playing time in the first frame.
Freshman Nick Van Der Waart Van Gulik made a strong defensive play to start the second half, stopping a Sunbird attacker in the Dominican box in the 52nd minute before he safely cleared the ball without taking a penalty. Another strong defensive play came in the 62
nd minute, this time by goalkeeper
Alejandro Reyes as he saw a Sunbird coming down the wing towards the goal. Reyes left the comfort of his box and met the attacker before he could get a shot off, clearing the ball and helping the Penguins transition down the field.
Dominican held possession after Reyes' strong defensive play, quickly transitioning down the field with
Elias Muro bringing the ball toward the goal. Muro sent a pass to Galvan who scored his first goal of the season in the 63
rd minute, cutting the Dominican deficit to two goals with 27 minutes remaining.
Dominican sophomore
Ryan Garvey got in on the defensive action in the 70
th minute with a strong move deep in the Dominican box that gave him position to steal the ball from an FPU defender before they got their shot off, helping keep the score at 3-1. FPU would soon extend its lead, however, as Alejandro Blazquez sent a pass through the box that found Souza before he headed home his second goal of the evening in the 83
rd minute, sealing the 4-1 victory.
Dominican finished the contest with seven total shots, finding the target twice, while FPU matched it with 14 total shots and four on net. Both teams finished the match with four corner kicks.
Dominican will now look ahead to Tuesday, Feb. 16 when it takes on Holy Names on Kennelly Field at 11 a.m. PST.
