FRESNO, CA -- A pair of defensive lapses two minutes apart early in the second half led to goals as Embry-Riddle of Florida defeated host Fresno Pacific 3-1 in the 16-team NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship on Monday at Ramirez Field.
Fresno Pacific is hosting the national tournament for the second straight year.
The Sunbirds used an early goal by Paul Islas to take a 1-0 lead at halftime but couldn't overcome the No. 4 seeded Eagles, who scored three goals in a six-minute span after halftime.
"We made a defensive mistake in the first half and they scored," said Embry-Riddle coach David Gregson. "The second half was their turn to make mistakes and we took advantage."
The win puts Embry-Riddle (14-3-4) into the quarterfinals against the winner of today's (Tue., Dec. 1) game between defending champion Bethel and Simon Fraser.
The Sunbirds finished their season 8-8-2.
In other games on Monday, No. 1 seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) defeated Bellevue (Neb.) 2-0, The Master's downed Indiana Tech 1-0 and Rio Grande (Ohio) beat Columbia (Mo.) 2-1.
In the night game, Fresno Pacific scored first when freshman forward Islas converted a pass from Lou Saelee at 13:46. Saelee raced down the left side and sent a crossing pass that Islas booted home.
Embry-Riddle scored the equalizer at 56:51 when the Sunbirds failed to clear the ball from their goal and Ryan Maloney calmly kicked it through. Two minutes later Eagles midfielder Marco Harleman took a turnover in the Fresno half of the field and fed Maloney's second goal -- and 19th of the season for the Sun Conference Player of the Year.
Harleman assisted Sam Litchfield for the Eagles' final goal at 62:58.
"It was the kind of thing we've been trying to work on and rectify, mistakes in the back giving [opponents] easy opportunities," Sunbirds coach Jaime Ramirez said. Fresno Pacific yielded 42 goals in 18 games.
Ramirez said his Sunbirds never got into a rhythm.
"They came at us hard and made it difficult for us," he said. "You work so hard to hold them back, then to just give [turnovers] to them."
Today's schedule: 11:30 a.m., Simon Fraser (B.C.) vs. Bethel (Tenn.); 2 p.m., Notre Dame (Ohio) vs. Benedictine (Kan.); 4:30 p.m., Hastings (Neb.) vs. Biola; 7 p.m., Martin Methodist (Tenn.) vs. Southern Poly State (Ga.).
Quarterfinals are Wednesday, semis on Friday and the championship game is 3 p.m. Saturday.