THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.-Behind solid defense, a dominant interior performance and a balanced attack, the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (5-8 overall) used fast starts to beat Cal Lutheran 13-6 and Cal State Fullerton 9-7 on the first day of the Tina Finali Invitational Friday.

Tatum Benson scored six goals to power Fresno Pacific in an early morning contest that saw Fresno Pacific sail to an early win over the hosts Cal Lutheran.

"Today was a good start to the weekend," Fresno Pacific head coach Bryan Suhovy said. "The team came out with focus and intensity."

Benson scored four of the first five goals of the game, with teammate Bella Alcazar tallying the only other score at that point on a powerplay, to propel FPU to a 5-0 lead.

Cal Lutheran snuck in a goal before the half but Fresno Pacific spread the love and the goal scoring around to take a 9-1 lead in the third. Alli Hepner was the only other Sunbird outside of Benson to score multiple goals, keeping Cal Lutheran off balance.

The Regals made it 10-5 before Benson struck the back of the cage two more times and Emma Cook added one for good measure to start the weekend with the win.

Goalie Katie Whittingham played the whole game, making 9 saves to anchor a solid defense effort from the start of the game.

The Sunbirds duplicated the fast start in the afternoon match against Cal State Fullerton.

Hepner and Benson continued their strong scoring days before Fullerton got on the board.

Hannah Walker scored consecutive goals to spark a string of six unanswered goals by the Sunbirds as FPU built a 8-1 advantage at half.

Fullerton would make things interesting in the second half, however, as the Titans scored six of the seven goals tallied in the final 16 minutes with Emma Cook's goal coming right in the middle of the opponents answer.

Fresno Pacific was able to hold onto the two goal lead for the final minutes and start the Tina Finali Invitational with a pair of wins.

Benson's 7 goals on the day sparked the FPU offense from the early morning hours and allowed the Sunbirds stifling defense to create opportunities and leads all day.

While Benson led the way, seven other Sunbirds scored on the day with Hepner and Walker each contributing multi-goal games for the offense.

"We're finishing our opportunities and our defense has been the key to creating those opportunities," Suhovy added. "We became a little complacent in the second half of Fullerton but we kept our composure and finished the win. We are figuring things out and I'm proud of the team for continuing to work hard. We need to rest and refocus for two more good games tomorrow."

Fresno Pacific concludes the tournament on Saturday beginning with a morning game against Occidental. The Sunbirds wrap up the day with a 3 p.m. game against the University of Toronto.
 
SUNBIRD SOCIAL

• Twitter - @fpusunbirds
• Instagram - @fpusunbirds
• Facebook - /FPUsunbirds