Fresno Pacific (13-22) completed their second season on a high note with a win over Azusa Pacific. Fortunately, this was not the only high note of the season as the Sunbirds went on to win four more games than their first season.
The Sunbirds struggled in the first half of their season going 1-10, but got the opportunity to face some strong teams. They hung in there during both their matches against No. 5 Cal Berkeley and in both their matches against Colorado State. Both these tough opponents helped the Sunbirds gain experience and confidence in the second half of the season.
The Sunbirds closed out the regular season well going 11-10 and winning their final four regular season games.
In the NAIA tournament, the Sunbirds trailed in every opening quarter of the tournament, but came back in each second quarter going into halftime. The Sunbirds trailed 0-4 against Concordia, but fought back to tie the game at 5-5 into the half. They trailed 1-3 against Cal Baptist and came within one goal at halftime. Even in their win, the Sunbirds trailed 0-1 after the first, but slowly broke out ahead of Azusa in the next three quarters.
The Sunbirds had a chance against Concordia leading 8-7 after the third quarter, but allowed the Eagles five goals in the final quarter.
Coach Brian Suhovy commented on the tournament, “I was proud of how hard the girls played. All our games were tough and each team showed up ready to play. It was a great way to finish up a long season.”
Cal Baptist won the tournament followed by Concordia, and then Fresno Pacific came in third. The Sunbirds will only graduate one senior (#Yulia Blinovskaya#) for next year, so the Sunbirds will look to take all their experience as a young team and continue to improve in the seasons to come.
Coach Suhovy continued about this season and next, “We improved our record from last year showing a tremendous amount of improvement. The girls’ team is returning next year with a lot of experience and excited about the way the program is growing and improving. I am happy with where we are in only our second season and I look forward to seeing what we can do next year.”