Dominican University handed Fresno Pacific University its first loss of the season on Thursday as the Penguins reigned victorious in the battle of the birds, earning a 1-0 victory over the previously undefeated Sunbirds, a team that earned the No. 4 ranking in the PacWest preseason poll. 

"Going into the game, we knew it was one of the toughest places to play — we've only won there once before," head coach Kelly Coffey said. "They usually have good teams and good players, and the four hour drive doesn't make things any easier. We felt like the biggest keys were our competitiveness because they're very competitive, physical and hard to play against, and our energy. We brought those things tonight."
 
Annika Cerini earned her first goal of the young season against FPU, lunging to get a quick shot off after Ayla Harris sent her a centering pass. The kick would find its way over the outstretched arm of Chiara Soergel before connecting off the cross bar and dropping over the goal line, giving Dominican a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute. 

"I was just trying to get a foot on it because it was coming out of the box," Cerini said. "Since I was in front of the goal, I wanted to try and make sure that I was able to get something rather than just let it go."
 
Cerini would test the Sunbird goalkeeper again just five minutes later, but Soergel stood tall to keep the deficit at one. It took over 42 minutes for FPU to test Dominican goalkeeper Jaqueline Catano, but Catano made her lone save of the half and helped the Penguins to a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime. 
 
Cerini lead all shooters at the half with two total shots, both finding the target, while Tanya Bills and Sofia Odron also tallied shots in the opening stanza. Dominican held a 4-3 total shot advantage after the first frame, leading 2-1 in shots on goal. The opening frame saw its fair share of rough stuff, with the teams combining for 10 total fouls — four on Dominican and six on FPU.

"Since the game against the Academy of Art, our practices have been focussed on how this was going to be a physical game, and we knew that we were going to have to battle and everyone's was going to have to try to win their individual battles and compete,"  coach Coffey said. "One of the things that we felt was an issue for us against Art University was that we didn't create enough chances. We wanted to have more players get forward — our outside backs and our midfielders — to get into the box and create problems for for them."
 
The Penguin attack was in full flight to begin the second half, recording three shots in a span of just 53 seconds starting with Danielle Gonzalez sending a shot wide of the net. Cerini then found herself beating the keeper and finding a bar again, but this time the ball stayed out before Tanya Bills sent the rebound wide of the frame. 
 
FPU would earn a corner kick soon after, but Dominican almost immediately regained control and marched down the field before Claire Brown sent the ball high and wide of the net. It took just seven second half minutes for the Penguins to match their first half shot total, already sending four balls towards the frame in the second stanza.
 
The rough stuff continued in the second half, peaking in the 74^th minute when a red card was immediately drawn on the Sunbirds' Alexis Macias after she got tangled up with Penguin midfielder Gabrielle Wampler, resulting in a Macias slap across the face of Wampler. This brought the Sunbirds down to just 10 players on the field, making their bid at a late-game comeback even more taxing. 
 
Dominican's overtime hero from the season opener, Abigail Gould, almost saw the scoreboard for the second time in as many games just moments later in the 77^th minute when she sent a strong shot on net, but Soergel showed her prowess as she turned the shot aside and kept the game 1-0. 
 
The two teams traded chances in the ensuing minutes, with Catano keeping her clean sheet alive by aggressively challenging FPU's Madilyn Hernandez who found herself on a breakaway. Bills then brought the ball down the other side of the field for Dominican, finding the target with a shot from in-close but was again turned away by Soergel. 
 
More chances came for Dominican in the 87^th minute when Gonzalez outmuscled her defender to earn the ball in-close, but Soergel was again up to the task as she made a diving stop. Bills gathered the rebound and had her shot blocked before FPU was finally able to clear the ball to safety. Dominican continued to pressure FPU with Bills gathering the ball to the left of the box and sending it into the area of Gonzalez. Gonzales was not able to gain full control of the ball before Soergel challenged her, keeping her team in the game with time winding down before Dominican walked away with a 1-0 victory. 
 
Dominican sent an astonishing 13 shots towards the target in the second half, forcing Soergel to remain active as she earned three more saves. Dominican outshot FPU 17-10 in the match, also earning a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal. The teams combined for 24 total fouls over the course of the 90 minutes, 10 for the Penguins and 14 for the Sunbirds. 

Dominican will now look to continue its win streak on Tuesday, Feb. 16 when Holy Names University visits Kennelly field at 2:30 p.m. PST.