FRESNO, Calif. – Fresno Pacific knocked off defending PacWest champion Azusa Pacific, 2-1, on Saturday night at Ramirez Field behind second-half goals from seniors Alvaro Nogales and Renato Bustamante.

The Sunbirds improved to 9-2-2 on the season and 6-1-1 in conference play. The Sunbirds trail Dixie State by one point and are in sole possession of second place in the PacWest following the decision. APU falls to 3-6-1 overall and 3-3-1 in league action with the loss.

"Azusa Pacific is a very talented group, and in the run of play tonight they really made us work hard," said head coach Jaime Ramirez. "I was pleased with the fact that we were patient coming out of halftime after we made some adjustments. We got the two scores later than we wanted and we were a little disappointed to give up the goal late in the game, but that's the nature of our competition and our rivalry with APU. I was proud of our ability to fight tonight and get the decision we needed."

The teams were neck-and-neck for the first 73 minutes, with neither side able to find the back of the net until Nogales buried a shot in the box after a feed from Bustamante.

Bustamante added to the lead in the 81st minute, blasting a shot past the keeper after quick passes in the box by Eli Gallegos and Anthony Velarde. The Cougars responded with a goal of their own three minutes later, making for an intense final six minutes as the FPU defense held off an APU onslaught.

Andrew Luis made three saves for the Sunbirds.

FPU out-shot APU 14-11, which included a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Sunbirds produced five corner kicks on the evening.

FPU hosts Notre Dame de Namur on Monday at 7:30 pm.