RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Renato Bustamante scored a goal and dished out an assist in the first 15 minutes to help Fresno Pacific down California Baptist 3-1 Tuesday at Lancer Soccer Field. Guillermo Talancon and Alvaro Nogales tallied the other two scores for FPU in the win.
 
The Sunbirds improve to 9-3 overall and 7-1 in the PacWest with the win, while the Lancers fall to 5-8-1 overall and 4-4 in league play. FPU strengthens its hold on first place in conference with the three points earned on the road.

"That's a huge win for want we want to accomplish, especially on the road in a tough environment," said head coach Jaime Ramirez. "Renato was huge in more ways than one for us this afternoon. His aggressiveness and ability to get forward into the box was critical right from the get-go, especially with his beautiful combination play with Jorge. Most importantly, his leadership on the field was tremendous. He managed the guys as the captain of this team. We needed him today and it showed. His presence was huge and it kept us positive and upbeat, especially when we were tired in the second half." 
 
Bustamante, who returned after missing FPU's last match due to injury, made his impact felt immediately. Only two minutes in to the match, Bustamante made a run through the Lancer defense and was rewarded with a good ball from Chedraui. Bustamante finished the play with a shot to the far post to put the Sunbirds up 1-0 at the 2:30 mark.
 
Nearly ten minutes later, Bustamante found an open Talancon inside the box for a goal. The senior Talancon found the back of the net at the far post to put FPU up 2-0 with his third goal of the season.
 
Following the intermission, CBU cut the lead to 2-1 in the 61st minute with a goal from Ike Akubulio. The Lancers thought they found the equalizer only a minute later, but FPU had drawn CBU offside to eliminate the goal.
 
The Sunbirds had a golden opportunity to score in the 71st minute when Bustamante found the head of Chedraui, but offside had been called. Nogales was able to extend the Sunbird lead in the 83rd minute however with a left-footed shot past the Lancer goalkeeper into the side net. Joey Belzil was credited with the assist on the insurance score.

"We created a significant amount of chances and capitalized on three, but we could've been a bit sharper on our definition," said Ramirez. "We defended really well behind Eddie Cabral, Martin Kams and Dallas Whitlow. Nick Starr gave us some good minutes off the bench, as did Nick Watson on the back line. Andrew was phenomenal as usual in goal. They kept coming at us, but we sustained ourselves and didn't give them a lot of clarity offensively which made the difference."
 
Andrew Luis played tremendous in goal for FPU and totaled seven saves. He amassed five second-half blocks, which included three in the final ten minutes to hold onto the lead.
 
FPU continues PacWest play on Saturday at Ramirez Field against Hawaii Pacific. Kickoff will start at 5:00 p.m.