WAIPIO, Hawaii – The Fresno Pacific and Hawaii Pacific men's soccer teams played to a 0-0 double-overtime draw in a battle of PacWest unbeatens Thursday at Waipio Soccer Park.
FPU earned a valuable road point against a team that had beaten the Sunbirds three consecutive years, including twice in Hawaii. FPU moves to 5-1-2 overall and 2-0-1 in PacWest play with the decision, while HPU settles at 4-2-1 overall and 2-0-1 in league play. Both teams currently sit atop the PacWest standings with seven points.
"It was a very intense, well-played match that featured a playoff type atmosphere," said head coach
Jaime Ramirez. "It was an outstanding effort by our men to truly go after the game and the three points at stake, but the defensive effort by both teams prevailed. Hawaii Pacific is a very talented team that came at us hard, so for us to steal a point here on this grueling road trip is huge."
Andrew Luis led the Sunbirds to their second clean sheet of the season with seven saves in goal. It also marked the first shutout of the season for the senior. The back line of
Dallas Whitlow,
Sergi Nus,
Emmanuel Ochoa and
Martin Kams forced the Sharks offsides nine times and didn't allow a single corner kick opportunity in 110 minutes of action.
HPU held an 11-10 advantage in shots, including a 7-6 mark in shots on goal. HPU fired the first shot of the match at the 1:30 mark and the final shot on goal in the 100th minute, both of which were saved by Luis in goal for FPU.
Alvaro Nogales led the Sunbirds with five shots on the evening, with two coming on goal.
Jorge Chedraui also fired two shots on goal without finding the back of the net. FPU had a golden opportunity in the 64th minute, but Nogales' header off a corner kick from
Renato Bustamante went off the crossbar and was eventually saved. The Sunbirds managed two shots in the pair of overtime periods, neither of which came on goal.
The Sharks benefited from Eduardo Paclacios' six saves.
FPU wraps up its four-game Hawaii road trip with a match at BYU-Hawaii on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. PST.
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