SANTA CLARA, Calif. - A wire-to wire game ended in heartbreak for the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds Saturday afternoon as they fell in overtime to the Santa Clara Broncos 11-9. 

To open the game, the Broncos scored on their first two possessions to take an early 2-0 lead. 

Fresno Pacific's Maddie Murad would end the first quarter with an early hat trick scoring a trio of goals in the 4th, 2nd, and final minute of the first quarter to give the 'Birds the lead 3-2 heading into the second period. 

Missed shots by both teams marked the beginning of the second period. 

Santa Clara broke through with another pair of goals to regain the lead 4-3 with two minutes left in the second. 

The back-and-forth continued as the Sunbirds answered with a pair of their own from Regan Azevedo and a final five second goal from Emma Cook to retake the lead 5-4 to start the third period. 

The Broncos and Sunbirds traded goals to start the third, with Murad scoring her fourth goal of the game.

The Sunbirds would take their largest lead of the game with another set of goals from Azevedo and Natalie Kisling to go up 8-5 with 3 minutes left in the third.

A goal from the Broncos would mark the end of the third with the 'Birds up two. 

The Broncos converted again off of a power play to bring themselves back within one with 6 minutes left to play. 

Alli Hepner would score her first goal of the game off the assist from Azevedo to extend the 'Birds the 9-7 lead. 

In the final minutes of the fourth, the Sunbirds offense came to a  halt with the Broncos locking down on defense creating missed shots and turnovers for the 'Birds.

Santa Clara would score a pair of goals in the final two minutes to tie the game 9-9 and send it in to overtime. 

In overtime, the offensive woes continue for the Sunbirds who failed to score in both overtime periods. 

The Broncos capitalized on the 'Birds struggles scoring two goals in the first overtime to take their first lead of the game since the first period 11-9. 

The Sunbirds would turnover the ball a final time to end the game to fall to the Broncos in heartbreaking fashion. 

Maddie Murad's four goals would lead all Sunbirds in scoring. 

Fresno Pacific struggled to covert offensively for a majority of the game registering 35 shots, with a .257 shot percentage and going 2-9 on power plays. 

In goal, Katie Whittingham registered a strong game recording 9 saves. 

"The team played a great game" said head coach Bryan Suhovy. "They played with tenacity and heart."

The Sunbirds will head across town for the Bulldog Mini where they will face the Fresno State Bulldogs first at 6pm on Friday at the Aquatics Center. 

SUNBIRD SOCIAL 

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

#TeamFPU