SANTA BARBARA, Calif - Fresno Pacific Men' Soccer fell 2-1 to Westmont in a PacWest clash Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Sunbirds drop to 1-3 in conference play.
The result was decided in a furious five-minute stretch of the first half where every goal of the game was tallied. It started in the 25th minute off a Westmont corner kick, that was initially saved by FPU keeper Elmer Carballo. But in the ensuing melee, the ball ping-ponged around in the box and was poked through by Westmont's Connor Lynch to open the scoring for the Warriors.
The home side doubled their lead just over two minutes later when Erick Guerrero broke through the final third and stuck a mid-range shot past a diving Carballo. The goal was Guerrero's seventh of the season, which breaks a deadlock with FPU's Lucas Ribeiro for top PacWest scorer.
FPU then cut the lead back to one in less than three minutes, after Chris Macias scored a sublime strike from a free kick on the edge of the Westmont box. It was a dazzling curler tucked into the top corner for this third goal of the season.
FPU's only other shot on goal in the game came just before halftime, when Ribeiro's attempt was saved by Westmont keeper Brady Highfill.
A wild second half saw the ref go to his pocket eight times, issuing five and three yellows to FPU and Westmont, respectively. Ultimately it was that home side's ability to put more shots on goal that made the difference, and while FPU's Carballo was able to save four of them it was the two that slipped by that guaranteed the win for the Warriors.
The Sunbirds, now losers of two straight, will have little time to rue the defeat before heading home for a non-conference clash against the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday. Kickoff is set for 6pm from Ramirez Field, and will stream live on the PacWest Network.
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