CLARMEONT, Calif. – Fresno Pacific rode eight goals from David Maes and 37 saves from Dillon Robinson to a pair of victories on Saturday, as the Sunbirds defeated Iona 11-9 and Chapman 12-10 in overtime at the Gary Troyer Memorial Tournament.
 
FPU has now won three straight and moves to 7-8 overall on the season.
 
"I'm proud of the heart our guys played with today," said head coach Bryan Suhovy. "Both games were physical and tough. We stuck to our game plan and focused on the things we have been working on. This was a good momentum builder as we head into conference games next week."
 
In the opener, the Sunbirds used a big third quarter to earn the win over Iona. FPU led 6-5 at the intermission before a five-goal third frame made the difference. Goals from Kyle Eoff and Jamison Shapland with under two minutes to play in the quarter gave the Sunbirds their biggest lead of the day at 11-7 as the Sunbirds held on for the victory.
 
Maes led FPU with four goals in the win, while Eoff and Steven Kaufmann added two apiece. Erik Brown, Shapland and Kyle Madel rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. Robinson tallied 17 saves in the cage.
 
In the evening game, FPU received a goal from Garrett Pickford with 2:16 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 8-8 and force overtime. After each team exchanged goals in the opening minutes of overtime, the Sunbirds closed the game on a 2-0 run with scores from Shapland and Maes to earn the 12-10 victory.
 
Maes amassed four goals to lead FPU for the second straight game, while Brown and Madel each found the back of the cage twice. Pickford, Shapland, Jacob Fairchild and Eoff finished off the scoring with a goal apiece. Robinson had a monster game in the cage with 20 saves.
 
"We were down three starters heading into overtime, and our bench did a great job stepping up to solidify the win," noted Suhovy. "All-in-all it was a good weekend, but we are excited to finally be home after three weekends of travel."
 
The Sunbirds host Concordia on Saturday, Oct. 15 in Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) action at 1 p.m.