The Sunbirds dropped a pair of matches on the opening day of the Posada Royale Invitational hosted by Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks.

Fresno Pacific (1-11) dropped their first match of the day 12-7 to Claremont Mudd-Scripps before falling in the afternoon showdown with California Baptist 17-5.

Dani Mortimer led FPU with five goals on the day, three of which came in the loss to CMS. Freshman Emily Marr and senior Jenn Cobb scored once in each contest.

In game one the Sunbirds had one of their better offensive games of the season scoring two goals in each of the first three quarters. A shutout third quarter by the defense gave FPU a great shot to overtake Claremont Mudd-Scripps who led by one heading into the final frame.

The lack of depth caught up with Fresno Pacific in the fourth as the Athenas scored five goals on the way to the 12-7 win.

“We had a strong showing against Claremont today. It was a one-point game up until the fourth quarter. Their depth got the best of us in the last four minutes. We are happy with how we played,” said head coach Bryan Suhovy. 

Game two proved to be a different story against one of the tougher schools at the tournament in California Baptist. The Lancers got a seven-goal performance from Laura Kocsis and four from Hannah Evans in the win.

The Sunbirds were stifled on offense and managed just one goal in the first half, which came late with 3:27 left in the second quarter. The Lancers had nine first half goals and were on their way to the win.

“We struggled against a strong CBU team. They came out aggressively and we had a hard time breaking their press,” said Suhovy. “Overall we showed some growth, but still have a ways to go. We are feeling about what we need to do tomorrow.”

Fresno Pacific will continue their Posada Royale Invite schedule tomorrow against LaVerne at 11:40 am and Chapman at 3:10 pm.