SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Fresno Pacific took a lead into halftime, but host Santa Clara escaped with a 9-7 win over the Sunbirds in Golden Coast Conference (GCC) action Thursday. Kelsie Harvey continued her stellar play in goal with 17 saves, but it proved to be not enough as FPU dropped its fifth-straight contest.
 
The Sunbirds fall to 7-20 overall and 0-4 in GCC play with the loss, while SCU improves to 12-10 overall and 1-1 in league action.
 
"I'm disappointed with the loss, but proud of how hard our team played," said head coach Bryan Suhovy. "We had a two minute lapse in defense in the fourth quarter and Santa Clara took advantage of it to take the lead. We couldn't recover after that. The women played hard all game and have shown so much improvement. We are excited to see them play at home as we continue conference play in the upcoming weeks."
 
Alyssa Stevens led the Sunbirds with two goals. Mallory Rettig, Kaitlin Fletcher, Mikayla Scheer, Emily Knowles and Nia Apodaca rounded out the scoring with one apiece. Apodaca also dished out three assists.
 
Harvey finished with her 11th double-digit save performance of the year. The senior also tallied four steals and one five-meter penalty save in the setback. 
 
FPU held the Broncos scoreless in the second quarter and found the back of the cage twice to earn a 5-3 advantage at the intermission. The Sunbirds then led 6-5 after three quarters before SCU used a four-goal final quarter to earn the win.
 
FPU is back in action Saturday, April 11 against Pacific in GCC action. The Sunbirds return home after a 17 road-game swing at 1:00 pm against the Tigers.