FRESNO, Calif. -   The Fresno Pacific men's soccer team hosted Cal Poly Pomona in their season opener on Wednesday night at Ramirez Field. The Sunbirds forced the Broncos to make six saves in the first half, but couldn't get enough shots past the keeper and fell 4-1. 

QUOTABLE:   

• "We were ready for the game. Unfortunately, we made a couple of errors and gave up a couple of early goals that forced us to chase the game. In about 25 minutes, we created about five scoring opportunities. We were there and we shot it right at the goalie. We forced them to make six saves in the first half and they were shots we should have made. We're going to fix that. I thought we played well, but defensively we were a little soft and gave up some opportunities that resulted in us chasing the game." – head coach Jaime Ramirez. 

SCORING:  

• (2:51) The Broncos got on the board when Paul Henschke snuck one in from past Hunter Shephard, who was making his first career start in goal for the Sunbirds. 
• (11:26) CPP added to their lead when Griehsel Facey scored off assists from Christian Miramontes and Kraig Bonanken.
• (26:14) Henschke added to his goal total to put his team up 3-0.
• (36:36) Alex Blazquez hammered one home thanks to passes from Fellipe Souza and Taran Williams, putting the Sunbirds on the board.
• (72:13) Facey finished the scoring for the Broncos with his second goal of the night.

STATS FROM THE GAME:  

• FPU forced Cal Poly Pomona to make six saves in the first half and outshot the Broncos 11-9 during that span. 
• Souza and Tristyn Bailey led the attack for the 'Birds with two shots on goal each.
• Shephard made four saves during Wednesday's match. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE: 

• The goal from Blazquez was his first since 2019 and second of his Sunbird career. 

UP NEXT:  

• The Sunbirds are back in action on Saturday to host Cal State San Marcos in non-conference action. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

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