O'Fallon, Ill.- A back-and-forth match resulted in a heartbreaking 12-10 overtime loss for the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds against Cal State East Bay in the 3^rd place game at the WWPA Championships Sunday morning.

"The team played their hearts out this morning," Fresno Pacific head coach Bryan Suhovy said. "I'm proud of them. It was a tough loss but they were in the fight the entire time."
 
The Sunbirds opened the game scoring first in the 5-minute mark with a goal from Tatum Benson off the steal from Hannah Walker.
 
The teams continued to trade goals leading to a 2-2 tie heading into the 2^nd quarter.
 
To open the 2nd, the Sunbirds scored back-to-back possessions with goals from Natalie Kissling and Emily Lopez-Ibarra to give them their largest lead of the game 4-2.
 
The Sunbird's lead did not last long as the Pioneers stormed back and pulled ahead with 3 unanswered goals.
 
Lopez-Ibarra found the back of the net again to even the score and send the match to halftime tied 5-5.
 
The Sunbirds and the Pioneer traded a pair of goals to start the 3^rd quarter.
 
The Pioneers edged ahead with two goals, but the Sunbird's Lopez-Ibarra answered drawing within 1.
 
Heading into the 4^th quarter the Pioneer held their led by 2.
 
During the 4^th quarter the Pioneers struggled to score. Fresno Pacific's Natalie Kisling and Walker took advantage and added their names to the score sheet to tie the game 9-9 heading into final minutes of the match.
 
Another pair of goals were traded by both teams to end the 4^th quarter and send the game into overtime tied 10-10.
 
The first period of overtime was a defensive battle marked by missed shots and turnovers by both teams to result in a scoreless 1^st overtime quarter.
 
The scoreless overtime was finally broken in the 2^nd quarter when the Pioneers scored back-back goals to end the game sealing the Sunbirds heartbreaking defeat 12-10.
 
A total of six different Sunbirds got into the scoring column with Lopez-Ibarra leading all Sunbirds scoring with four goals.
 
Rosemary Chapman ended the tournament with 5 goals, 2 assists and 4 steals to land her on the 1^st Team All-Tournament.
 
Lopez-Ibarra was also named to the 2^nd Team All-Tournament.
 
The Sunbirds end the season with a 4^th place finish in the WWPA Championship and a 13-17 overall record.
 
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