Box Score

Fresno Pacific overcame a one-goal deficit in the final 10 minutes with a man down to complete a miraculous comeback and defeat Azusa Pacific 3-2.

A counter attacking opportunity in the 88th minute gave the Sunbirds their chance to keep the game from overtime and pull out one of the biggest wins in recent history. Renato Bustamante connected with senior Gustavo Silva for a one-on-one opportunity with goalkeeper Chip Cox, and Silva buried it past one of the conferences top shot stoppers.

The win keeps the Sunbirds in the hunt for not only the NCCAA playoffs, but also the PacWest conference championship. FPU now sits in third place after vaulting ahead of Hawaii Pacific with 21 points.

"I have to hand it to Azusa. They are a fantastic team," said head coach Jaime Ramirez. "It means everything for us to win this match. Right now this victory keeps us in the playoff hunt and it keeps us in the hunt for a conference title. We're the ones responsible for that; we write our own ticket."

The Sunbirds struck early in the match with a goal in the third minute as Jorge Chedraui got behind Azusa's vaunted defense for his team-leading ninth score of the season. The Cougars struck back 23 minutes later with a penalty kick drawn by Keyran Kelly and taken by senior Oktay Bulut who drilled the shot to tie the match.

The goal swung all the momentum to APU who found the back of the net 11 minutes later when Keenan Armburst slotted away a shot from point blank range on a pass from Steven Shiokari.
After the first APU goal the Sunbirds struggled to regain the form, especially in the passing game, that put them ahead one as the Cougars dominated the remainder of the half.

In the second half FPU turned up the pressure creating multiple chances in the first few minutes including a golden opportunity from Chedraui that went off the crossbar and out keeping the match at 2-1.

Perhaps the biggest change from the first to the second half was the ball pressure and defensive intensity. Azusa struggled to find a rhythm and the surge from the Sunbirds kept FPU in the match throughout the half.

In the 79th minute the Sunbirds were dealt a big blow when defender Luke Tyler was hit with his second yellow card and ejected from the game. The man disadvantage did little to deter FPU who continued the flurry of attack and finally broke through in the 82nd minute when a free kick played into the box by Eric Velarde found the head of Alvaro Nogales for the equalizer. Silva's goal in the final minutes lifted FPU to a win that puts them three points out of first place with three matches to go.

"We talked about the fight in us and that second half was about as good of a physical effort, even with a man down, that we have ever seen on this campus," said Ramirez. "This is the rivalry for us. This is our "Super Clásico". To see our boys rise to the occasion they way that they did was amazing."

Fresno Pacific closes out their home schedule with a showdown against the conference's fourth placed team Point Loma on senior day at 1:30 p.m.