The Fresno Pacific men's water polo team secured its first win of the season in dramatic fashion on Friday, knocking off host Cal Lutheran 18-17 in double overtime. FPU dropped the first game of the day 19-7 to #14 Cal Baptist, but bounced back to hand CLU a crushing loss.

"This was a great first victory," said FPU coach Bryan Suhovy after the game. "CLU came out strong and I'm proud that our guys rallied together for the win. We still have a long way to go to get where we need to be but today was the first step to positive progress."

It was a highly competitive 38 minutes of water polo, with no team ever going ahead by more than two goals.

The Sunbirds trailed by a narrow margin for much of the game, but drew to within one at the end of the third quarter. Trevor Kolb tied the game at 13 with a goal early in the fourth quarter. The teams battled from there, exchanging goals until Evan Baird scored with 2:36 left in the fourth quarter to give FPU the lead.

The Sunbirds then went ahead 16-14 with 13 seconds remaining, but the Kingsmen put together an improbable comeback to send the game into overtime. FPU was called for an exclusion foul and then gave up a costly steal and goal as time expired.

The team charged ahead though, overcoming a lively Friday night crowd at CLU to take the lead in overtime. Sascha Ludwig and Chris Maldonado scored for the Sunbirds in the first overtime to put them up 18-16, before CLU's Brian Gross brought the FPU lead back to one. Neither team would score in the second overtime as the Sunbird defense held strong for the win. 

"I'm proud of the guys and happy to have been fortunate enough to get the victory," said team captain Maldonado afterward. "We still have a lot to work on but now we have a taste of success and something to build on."

Baird led FPU with eight goals in the victory while Maldonado, Glenn Lyon and Dylan Smith added two apiece. The Sunbirds improved to 1-7 with the win.

In the first game, FPU fell behind 12-0 before finally scoring midway through the third quarter. The Sunbirds played the Lancers even from that point, but it wasn't enough to offset their slow start. Riley Warner had ten saves and Smith led the Sunbirds with three goals.