WHITTIER, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific men's water polo team opened the 2016 season at the Whittier Mini Tournament on Saturday. The Sunbirds began the year with a 9-6 victory over Occidental before falling to La Verne in overtime 16-14 in the afternoon game.
 
"I felt today was a good learning experience for us," said head coach Bryan Suhovy. "It's the first weekend out and we have a lot to work on. We had a chance to see a lot of the new guys play, and play with some subbing rotations. We had a solid win against Occidental but we couldn't maintain momentum against La Verne."
 
The Sunbirds used a big second half to take down Occidental, as FPU found the back of the net seven times in the last two periods. The Sunbirds led 2-1 at halftime.
 
Garrett Pickford and Kyle Madel led the way for the 'Birds with a hat trick apiece. Taylor Heckathorn, David Maes and Zach Koch rounded out the scoring with a score each. Maes added two assists to his line.
 
Dillon Robinson led the defense with eight saves in the cage. The Sunbirds also held Occidental to a 2-of-12 mark on man-up opportunities.

FPU carried the momentum into the second match and led 7-4 at the intermission. La Verne stormed back in the second half, however, and knotted the game at 13 after four full periods. The Leopards would then go on to outscore the Sunbirds 3-1 in overtime.
 
Maes led the way for the Sunbirds offensively with four goals, while Erik Brown and Jacob Fairchild added three goals apiece. Kyle Eoff added two scores and Pickford and Madel rounded out the scoring with one each.
 
Joseph Costa got the nod for the Sunbirds in goal and added 12 saves. Maes chipped in with seven steals on the defensive end.
 
"We need to figure out how to fight when things aren't going our way," said Suhovy. "We created plenty of opportunities, but failed to convert them to goals. In the end we learned a lot and have a lot of work ahead of us. Tuesday's game will be good for us to look at our young guys even more before we head to our next big game."
 
The Sunbirds will face Merced College on Tuesday in an exhibition. The opening sprint is slated for 6 p.m. at Sunnyside Aquatics Center.