FRESNO, Calif. - Jorge Chedraui scored three goals in the first half as Fresno Pacific cruised past Holy Names 6-1 on Thursday at Ramirez Field. The Sunbirds (6-1, 4-0 PacWest) also received two goals from Eric Sanchez and two assists from Renato Bustamante in the win.

"It's enjoyable to see the guys do the things we have been working on," said head coach Jaime Ramirez. "We knew that we were going to be effective in countering early and playing aggressively in their half of the field. We wanted to score early and score often, and we were able to do that tonight."

The Sunbirds opened the scoring in the 18th minute on a goal from Chedraui, who fired a shot into the back of the net after a Bustamante blast hit the post. Less than 30 seconds later, Alvaro Nogales played a perfect through ball to a sprinting Chedraui for a one-on-one breakaway with the Hawk keeper that resulted in a 2-0 lead for FPU.

Chedraui wasn't finished and netted his third goal of the afternoon for his second hat-trick of the season in the 28th minute. He received a header from Bustamante inside the box and buried the right footer into the net for his co-league leading eighth goal of the season.

Eric Sanchez scored the final goal of the period on a cross from Thiago Novis to put FPU up 4-0 at the intermission.

The Sunbird offense continued the strong play in the second half and scored in the 53rd minute on a hustle play from Novis. As the Hawk goalkeeper tried to clear the ball, Novis sprinted and bodied the ball into the net. FPU's final score came from Sanchez, who split two defenders on a scissor move to create a breakaway with the goalkeeper. Sanchez finished off the impressive run with a chip shot over the goalie to ignite the crowd.

Holy Names received its lone goal of the afternoon in the 77th minute on a Jamie Phillips free kick. Phillips, who was voted the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year, was held in check by the Sunbird defense throughout the night despite scoring his co-league leading eighth score of the season.

"Jaime Phillips in a fantastic player, he has individual skills that any team would love to have," said Ramirez. "For us, it was important to double him up early and try to deny him the ball. We wanted to stay behind him, and although he had some opportunities, I think we made it difficult on him and frustrated him a little bit."

The defense was spearheaded by Andrew Luis in goal, who made seven saves and played 72 minutes of shutout ball. Martin Kams made a goal-saving block on a Phillips shot, while Eddie Cabral, Chris Chen, Nick Watson and Dallas Whitlow forced the Hawks offside five times.

The Sunbirds out-shot HNU 27-16 on the afternoon.The Hawks fell to 2-7 overall and 0-3 in PacWest play.

"This is what we work for," said Bustamante. "Last season we had a couple of statement games like this for the whole conference to know that can score from many different options. Every game we try and come out firing and when Jorge (Chedraui) is on-point like that, it's rewarding for all of us because it makes all of our jobs easier."

The Sunbirds currently sit atop the standings in the PacWest at 4-0 and continue league play this Saturday, Oct. 4 at Notre Dame de Namur. The game is slated to begin at 12 p.m.