RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Fresno Pacific (5-21) came out excited to play this weekend, and showed a lot of growth as they took down two more teams at the Cal Baptist Tournament. The Sunbirds had huge wins with a 23-7 victory over Macalester and a 11-5 win over Whittier. Fresno Pacific finished the weekend 2-2 falling to Redlands 7-8 and George Washington 8-10.
Borbala Toth and
Katie Rayner led the Sunbirds with nine and eight goals apiece for the weekend, respectively. Toth had four goals against Macalester and three more against George Washington while Rayner had two three-goal performances against Macalester and Whittier.
Nicolette Haley also scored six goals on the weekend for the Sunbirds. All three girls - Toth, Rayner and Haley - scored a goal in all four games for the Sunbirds.
Dani Mortimer stepped up on the weekend with 50 saves combined and only allowing 25 goals to be scored on her in the tournament. Mortimer’s best performance came against Whittier with 17 saves, 2 steals, 1 assist and 1 blocked five-meter penalty shot. Mortimer also helped the Sunbirds hold George Washington scoreless in the final quarter, but it was not enough for the Sunbirds to come all the way back.
By the end of the weekend, Coach Bryan Suhovy commented, “We played the best we have all season; we were firing on all cylinders.”
14 Sunbirds scored goals this weekend at the tournament with most coming in their 23-7 domination of Macalester.
“The girls jumped out to an early lead hungry to play in their first game of the weekend and they showed they wanted it. It gave our younger girls a chance to really get some minutes and some experience,” Coach Suhovy continued, “I’m proud of how we played all weekend.”
Next the Sunbirds will rematch UC Davis in Fresno on Friday, March 26 and then head down to Bakersfield for a tournament on Saturday. In their last meeting, Davis defeated Fresno Pacific 1-12 in Davis. The Sunbirds will take on Davis at 6 p.m.