Box Score

A tough opponent on the road proved to be too much for the Sunbirds as FPU dropped its season opener 1-0 to Sonoma State.

The Sunbirds (0-1-0) were unable to find the back of the net against the tough high-pressure defense of the Seawolves (1-0-0). It took FPU a little bit to get settled into the match as SSU had a majority of the play early in the Sunbird half of the field.

Keeper Fabian Rangel made a pair of saves early on to keep the Seawolves out of goal and the Sunbirds in the game.

The biggest struggle for Fresno Pacific came on the offensive side of the ball where integrating a few new players and running a new formation created disconnect in the final third. Preseason PacWest Player of the Year Alvaro Nogales was held to just one shot which came in the final minutes of the game. Once the Sunbirds were settled into the match they began to find players advancing and had chances to make plays, but could not find each other in the final third.

"We just couldn't connect in the final third," said head coach Jaime Ramirez. "We couldn't find Renato Bustamante making runs, and Alvaro was coming back into the midfield and we struggled to get forward."

The two teams continued to jockey back and forth for chances with neither one really gaining any sort of a foothold on the match throughout the rest of the half.

In the second half the Sunbirds were able to gain some momentum, but once again found themselves unable to finish the offensive possession in the final third.

The Seawolves finally broke the deadlock in the 74 th minute when a pass from Aaron Glover fed Kelly Davila in behind the defense and he slotted it past Rangel in goal.

Despite a few chances in the latter stages of the game FPU was unable to find the equalizer and dropped the season opener.

"It is always tough to play a quality opponent on the road and you hope for at least the draw, but that didn't happen for us tonight. I am happy with the way our guys responded to the slow start and we just have to clean some things up for our next match," said Ramirez.

The Sunbirds will have to rebound quickly in order to be prepared for their next game in the Seawolf Classic on Saturday when they take on San Francisco State at 2:30 p.m. in Rohnert Park.