SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican men's soccer fell 3-1 Monday afternoon to Fresno Pacific at Kennelly Field.

Jake Kazlauskas scored his second goal of the season for the Penguins (4-7-1, 2-3-1 PacWest) as the team struggled to convert on its 15 shots, with six on frame. The Sunbirds (5-6-1, 4-2-0 PacWest) were more efficient in their chances and held slight advantages with 16 total shots and eight on goal. 

FPU got its offense in rhythm early with two chances on goal in the 9th and 10th minutes respectively and kept the pressure up as Cristian Trujillo played a long ball to Zion Vaughn who beat his defender and went back post for the 1-0 lead in the 14th minute. Cole Porter made a good move inside the right side of the box and tried to beat the keeper near post for the equalizer, but Elmer Carballo was in the right place to make the save. Disaster struck for the Penguins in the 29th minute as a defensive miscue inside the box gave the Sunbirds' Bryan Lopez to swoop in and take the ball with an easy shot for the 2-0 lead. Dominican continued to push and look for an answer offensively as Alejandro Amaya Suarez took a long shot at the goal in the 37th minute curling it over defenders and towards the goal but it curled a hair too far is it hit the left woodwork leaving the Penguins scoreless at the break. 

Dominican came out aggressive on offense to start the second half with Rolando Gonzalez making a few deft touches to get past defenders inside the box before loosing a shot on goal but Carballo guessed correctly on the placement and smothered the shot to keep his lead. Three minutes later, a cross inside the box found Brandon Selway who put some power on his header high towards the center of the net with Carballo leaping and getting a couple of fingertips on it to push it over the crossbar. Freddie Allen was the next to test Carballo with a shot near post that Carballo once again secured for the save in the 56th minute. 

After withstanding the onslaught, Chris Meza played a ball up a seam in the defense to Bryan Lopez who quickly crossed it to Brayden Garcia charging far post and he punched it home in the 68th minute for the 3-0 FPU lead. Dominican refused to go down without a fight as Abraham Garcia knocked a shot off the left woodwork in the 72nd minute. Nathan Freitas crossed a ball in from the right side of the box to Kazlauskas in the center with Kazlauskas burying the shot in the back netting to close the gap to 3-1 in the 78th for the Penguins, but time began to slip away to deny any comeback attempts.

Dominican will stay home and host Menlo on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PDT at Kennelly Field.