California Baptist University
Fresno Pacific
SHOCKED BY THE SUNBIRDS
10/10/2010 3:18:00 AM | Women's Soccer
FRESNO, Calif. --- On paper, this was supposed to be the easiest one of the stretch.
But this is the GSAC, and there's never an easy game.
Right in the middle of a string where four of five games are against nationally-ranked teams, the NAIA's No. 11-ranked California Baptist University lost to Fresno Pacific, 3-0, Saturday, losing to the only unranked team in this stretch.
The loss is the Lancers' third in the past four games as they fall to 8-4 overall, 2-3 (6 points) GSAC, while the Sunbirds, who had just three wins all year prior to today, improve to 4-6-1, 2-2-0 (6 points).
The Lancers, who were coming off a 2-0 win over sixth-ranked Vanguard Wednesday, looked like a completely different team today. Though they ripped off 23 shots and only allowed the Sunbirds to get nine shots, one-third of the Sunbirds' shots hit paydirt, all of them coming off the head of freshman Nayeli Deniz. All of them on corner kicks or set pieces.
Meanwhile, nine of the Lancers' 23 shots were on target, but Sunbird keeper Catherine Michaelis stopped all of those to hand the Lancers their first shutout of the season.
"We were just inconsistent in our performance today," said CBU Head Coach Kristen St. Clair. "Fresno Pacific came to play, but by our standards we were just not as sharp as we were Tuesday. You have to be sharp and consistent every time out in this conference, because the margin for error at this level is small. We put ourselves in an early hole and just couldn't dig our way out."
Deniz struck early, scoring her first collegiate goal in the eighth minute, heading Maghan Wright's corner kick past Nicoline Jorgensen, who got hit as she was coming out to catch the ball. Then, in the 25th minute, Deniz again headed in another corner kick past Jorgensen, who was lifted nine minutes later in favor of Katie Rumfola.
The
Lancers kept the game in striking distance, giving up just three first-half
shots while getting 10 of their own, but Deniz put the finishing touches on a
career afternoon with the final nail in the coffin in the 79th
minute on yet another header, this one coming on a free kick from Wright.
"We had some good possession and did some good things," said St. Clair. "We just couldn't finish."
CBU has little time to regroup as they next host No. 18 Point Loma Nazarene Tuesday at 3 p.m.
