Fresno Pacific picked up a huge PacWest victory on Wednesday night, scoring in the first five minutes and using a superb defensive effort to defeat two-time defending PacWest champions California Baptist 1-0.

Haley Tallon scored in the game's fifth minute on a pass from Hannah Coyle to put the Sunbirds up 1-0. Caressa Archie headed up a phenomenal defensive performance against a CBU offense that came into the night having scored 12 goals in its last three matches. Sarah King posted the shutout with eight saves in goal.

The win snapped a streak of three consecutive shutout losses.

"Cal Baptist has such a winning tradition and is such a proven side," said FPU head coach Erik Farfan. "We felt that it was important to come out and pounce on them early. We've been working on not just finishing on the offensive end, but also our defensive effort. We're really proud of the team's defensive effort tonight. It's real tough for one goal to be enough against a team like Cal Baptist but today it proved to be enough because of the way our defense played."

CBU out-shot FPU 28-12 but the Sunbird defense held strong throughout the second half. Reigning PacWest player of the year Bernadette Witz had nine shots and three shots on goal on the night, but continuously had chances taken away by Archie, King and the FPU defense.

"You're going to absorb pressure when you play a team like this," said Farfan. "We needed Sarah King to have a great game and she delivered. Caresaa, Alyssa Nakaguchi and Clara Buettner were all remarkable tonight and allowed us to play three in the back most of the game."

The Sunbirds unveiled a new formation tonight with the starting lineup, focusing on creating more pressure. It delivered as Coyle stole the ball in the first five minutes and hit Tallon with a great pass for an open look. The Sunbirds generated many other solid chances as well, including good shots on goal by Jerrica Babb and Jessica Castillo as the team finished with 12 shots and six on goal.

"Tactically we approached this game a little differently than previous games," said Farfan. "We're going to continue to prepare for each team in a different way if we have to and we felt like today's gameplan was spot on. We're really happy with the result and hope this is something we can build on."

The Sunbirds improve to 2-3, 1-1 in PacWest play while CBU falls to 3-4, 1-2 in PacWest play. FPU returns home this Saturday, facing Dominican at 4:30 pm.

"Our goal is to not have a letdown," said Farfan. "We have to come out with the same intensity and determination that we had today. We can't take this win for granted, but need to use it as a building block and continue to build confidence. We know Dominican will come in with a talented team, but we've talked about how this is our home field and we need to make it difficult for each and every team. Whether they're NCCAA national champions like CBU or anyone else, these girls are determined to make it a tough match."