GSAC Playoffs - First Round

#8 Westmont at #1 Fresno Pacific, 2 pm
Live Stats
Interview with Jaime Ramirez
Interview with FPU players (Luke Tyler, Rodrigo Vianna, Guilherme Machado and Steven Waite)

After a thrilling 4-3 road victory at Concordia, which clinched the GSAC title and top seed in the playoffs for the Sunbirds, FPU turns its attention to a familiar opponent in round one.

The #1-seed Sunbirds (11-5, 7-2) will play host to #8-seed Westmont (3-11-1, 2-6-1 GSAC)  for the second time in just over a week. Last Tuesday it was FPU handing the Warriors a 1-0 loss at Ramirez Field.

The Sunbirds played that game without several key players who were either injured or had accumulated too many yellow cards. Among the players out were starters Fabricio Nazare, Luke Tyler and Guilherme Machado.

This should play in the Sunbirds' advantage as FPU knows exactly what Westmont has, whereas the Warriors have yet to see the Sunbirds at full strength. The Sunbirds also come in with momentum, while Westmont backed in to the playoffs after losing in overtime this weekend to non-playoff qualifier Point Loma Nazarene.

In the first meeting, coach Jaime Ramirez opted to play a different formation with just three players in the back and it paid off as the FPU defense recorded a shutout and Julian Mattaliano scored the game-winning goal from Paul Islas in the second half.

Islas leads the Sunbirds with 15 goals and 11 assists and is coming off his league-high fourth GSAC Player of the Week selection. Westmont is led by senior forward Doug Harrell (5 goals), but Emmanuel Ayken (3 goals, 5 assists), a sophomore from Ghana, is the primary playmaker.

The latest NAIA rankings were released yesterday and the Sunbirds may have an extra chip on their shoulder as a result. FPU is ranked #21 in the NAIA, behind #10 Azusa Pacific and #13 Concordia. FPU not only won the conference title outright, but also defeated both of those teams in the head-to-head meetings.

FPU trails the all-time series with Westmont 21-31-6. Westmont was the primary NAIA soccer power in the West in the 60s and 70s before FPU emerged as a national contender in the early 80s.

Should FPU defeat Westmont, the Sunbirds will host the winner of Biola-Vanguard on Saturday with the time to be determined.

Other GSAC First-Round Games
#7 Hope International at #2 Azusa Pacific, 2 pm
#6 The Master's at #3 Concordia, 2 pm
#5 Biola at #4 Vanguard, 6 pm