Fresno Pacific Athletics

POMONA, Calif. – Fresno Pacific (5-16) finished their weekend in Pomona, but also played in La Verne and Irvine for a nail-biting weekend.  All four of the Sunbirds’ losses came within three goals, even losing by one in overtime to Whittier.

Fresno Pacific began the weekend in Irvine with a loss to Concordia, 8-11, and then moved right into the Claremont Convergence, where the Sunbirds opened with a win over La Verne, 7-3.  However, the Sunbirds finished with three straight losses to Whittier, Pomona-Pitzer and Cal Lutheran; 8-9, 7-10 and 12-14, respectively.

Brittany Guerrero and Yulia Blinovskya both found the back of the cage in every game of the weekend, scoring 10 and 14 goals, respectively.  Blinovskya’s high came in the Sunbirds’ win over La Verne with four goals, and Guerrero’s weekend high came in their overtime loss to Whittier with three goals.

In the final game against Cal Lutheran, Katelyn Ball, Borbala Toth and Melissa Perry came up big for the Sunbirds.  Toth and Perry each had two goals, while Ball got the hat trick scoring three goals.

Freshman goalie Crystal Cole played outstanding with 65 saves on the weekend, averaging 13 saves a game.  Cole came up big against Whittier with 22 saves.

Coach Brian Suhovy commented on the weekend, “All our games were close games against strong teams.”  Especially their overtime loss to Whittier, and their two-point loss to Cal Lutheran, the #3 team in DIII NCAA.  Pomona-Pitzer is currently ranked #1 in DIII NCAA, and the Sunbirds only lost by three in their meeting.

Coach Suhovy continued, ”Although we lost we were very proud of the way we played and learned a lot this weekend. The girls came away a stronger team and improved greatly ready to head into our games this weekend at Cal Baptist.”

The Sunbirds will head to Riverside for the Lancer Invitational this weekend.  The tournament will begin Friday, March 20, and will continue on Saturday, March 21.