COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Fresno Pacific fell in a heartbreaker to #17 Air Force, 11-10, on Friday in the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championship opening round. The Sunbirds led with 3:40 left in the game before the Falcons rallied for the win in their home pool.
FPU will now face Santa Clara tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. PT for the right to play in the fifth-place game on Sunday. SCU fell to UC San Diego 11-9 earlier in the day. The Sunbirds, who are competing in their first ever WWPA postseason tournament, fall to 10-16 overall, while Air Force moves to 11-16.
David Maes led the Sunbirds with a hat trick, while
Steven Kaufmann and
Zlatko Vlasic added two goals apiece.
Kyle Madel,
Jeff Miller and
Daniel Seymour rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece.
Dillon Robinson played all four quarters in the cage and tallied 17 saves, two of which came on five-meter penalties.
In a game that featured nine ties and 10 lead changes, Air Force earned the largest lead of the night, 5-3, with 4:04 left to play in the first half. Kaufmann answered for the Sunbirds two minutes later to make the halftime score 5-4.
After each team exchanged goals for most of the second half, FPU went ahead 10-9 with 3:40 left on a man-up goal from Maes. The Falcons responded, however, and scored back-to-back goals to win the game. FPU had two shots stopped in the final minute before Air Force ran out the clock.
The Sunbirds converted 5-of-10 power plays and drew 14 exclusions on the evening.
The Falcons forced 13 turnovers and out-shot FPU 35-25. Oliver Carter paced the Air Force offense with three goals.
