FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific University women's soccer team cruised past Chaminade on Thursday night, opening PacWest Conference play with a 2-0 victory. With the win, the Sunbirds now stand at 3-2-0 for the season, while the Silverswords have dropped their first four contests of the year. 

"We had a good week of practice, and we put a lot of focus on how wanted to play in this game. Our girls executed very well," assistant coach Terry Stewart said. "We thought we could have scored more, but it's always nice to get off to a good start. Hopefully, we can get some momentum going. It would be good for us to be able to build on this win."

Sassy Weigant connected with Rachelle Schiller in the game's 39th minute, and Schiller turned a one-on-one with the Chaminade keeper into an impressive goal from the right side of the box. The Sunbirds came out firing in the second half, with Weigant scoring on a free kick from Alyssa Nakaguchi less than four minutes into the period.   

"We had been working on a few trick plays, but we weren't sure if that one was going to work tonight. I've been having some luck with one-touch balls lately, so I just had to follow my feet," Weigant said. "This starts us off on the right foot in conference. We want to show teams that we want to win this year." 

An attacking mindset helped the Birds outshoot the Silverswords 29-8, including an 18-2 mark on goal. Senior Summer Hammond needed just two saves to record her second shutout in her last three games, while Chaminade counterpart Brandee Lane took the loss after a 16-save evening.  

The Sunbirds return to action on Saturday, when they host BYU-Hawaii in another PacWest showdown at Ramirez Field. Opening whistle is slated for 7:30 pm.