FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific men's soccer team earned its first victory of the season on Saturday night, defeating Cal State Monterey Bay 3-2 in overtime. Gabriel Batista's first career goal ended up being the difference, improving the Sunbirds to 1-0-1 on the year.
 
"It's a unique situation for us because we are still trying new players and new systems, and that is showing. We haven't been able to finish off opportunities that we create, but we can," head coach Jaime Ramirez said. "Today, our guys had tired legs and their guys didn't. Today was one of those blue collar efforts that eventually got the job done for us."
 
Adam Voloder followed his season-opening multi-goal performance by firing the opening salvo on Saturday night. The 1-0 Otter lead held up through the first half, but three minutes after the intermission, Jorge Chedraui found the net for the first time this year to pull the Birds even.
 
Cameron DeJong delivered a shot near the post in the 67th minute, but the Blue and Orange again responded. 55 seconds after CSUMB moved in front for the second time, Chedraui found teammate Joey Belzil, who launched the second equalizer of the night.
 
The momentum seemed to shift toward the Birds and carried over into the overtime period. Just over a minute in, Dylan Rusconi took advantage of a turnover and found Batista, who gave FPU the game-winner and its first win of the young season.  
 
"We played with our hearts and for this school and for each other," Batista said. "I hope I can score more to help this team. It's a different feeling than I've ever had in my whole life."
 
The Sunbirds will now have eight much-needed days off after playing three overtime periods through the first two games. On Sunday, September 11, Fresno Pacific heads to San Luis Obispo to take on Cal Poly, with opening whistle set for 5:00 p.m.
 
"Cal Poly is coached by a guy with a lot of experience, so it's an honor and a pleasure to play against them, but it's still college ball," Ramirez said. "We are one of the few privileged programs around the country that can play against them."