AZUSA, Calif. -- In 1997, Fresno Pacific was off to its best start in school history at 8-0 before suffering its first loss of that season in its GSAC opener at Azusa Pacific.
Fast forward 7 years later, and the NAIA's No. 2-ranked Sunbirds came into today's GSAC opener with Azusa Pacific matching its 1997 start at 8-0.
A little too ironic.
The Cougars, ranked No. 5 in the NAIA, scored 3 first half goals, including one just 2 minutes into the game, then used a superb defensive effort to post a 3-0 win over No. 2 Fresno Pacific in both team's GSAC opener Tuesday in Azusa.
With the win, the Cougars, who are off to their best 8-game start in program history, remain unbeaten and move to 7-0-1 overall, 1-0-0 GSAC. Fresno Pacific, which advanced to last year's NAIA championship game, suffers its first defeat of 2004 and falls to 8-1-0, 0-1-0.
The second-ranked Sunbirds are the highest ranked team the Cougars have beaten since they defeated No. 1-ranked Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), 1-0, in 1996.
"This feels great. It's huge for us," said Azusa Pacific head coach Phil Wolf. "We haven't necessarily established who we are as a program the past couple of years. We've had a couple tough and unlucky years, so to get this result does so much for this team and our program."
From the opening whistle, the Cougars came out firing and had the Sunbirds on their heels. On their first serious threat in the second minute, Ian Liebbrandt flicked a heel pass in the box to Andriy Budnyy, who then lifted a ball to the right side to a wide open Brandon Stirm. Fresno Pacific keeper Oscar Rodriguez had no chance as Stirm rifled a one-timer past his outstretched arms and into the net for a 1-0 Cougar lead, and the onslaught began.
"Fresno Pacific has always been the standard for the GSAC, so to score early and then again, we realized that we could play these guys straight up and take it to them," said Wolf. "All those goals today were world class. The thing about this team is that we are deadly on the counter attack."
That goal was a sign of things to come as the Cougars pelted Rodriguez with 11 shots, and had he not made 5 impressive saves, the score could have been worse.
In the 24th minute, Leibbrandt and Budnyy, who were thorns in the side of the Sunbirds' defense all day, hooked up again. Again Leibbradnt fed Budnyy with a heel flick in the box, but this time Budnyy blasted a ball toward Rodriguez that dipped at the last second and deflected off his hands and into the net.
"They are a great team, I don't want to under-rate them," said Budnyy. "I didn't expect it to be 3-nil, but I did expect us to win. A lot of people were treating this game as a huge game, but I was just treating this as another game in the season. It's a great win, but tomorrow we have to forget about it and get ready for our next one."
Just 6 minutes later, Budnyy received a through ball from Ferguson Agwu, eluded his defender with a nifty cut back into the box and placed the ball past Rodriguez and inside the near post for a 3-0 Cougar lead.
"I saw the defender running, and I knew he was going to slide for the ball, so I just cut back and shot at the near post," said Budnyy. "The funny thing is that I've been practicing that move and shot in practice, but I miss it all the time. Today I didn't."
While the scoring stopped, the chances didn't. After the Sunbirds nearly struck for a goal in the final minute, the Cougars quickly countered and actually scored on a nice combination with 25 seconds left in the half, but the goal was waved off as Skelly Kellar, who flicked the ball to Agwu, was ruled offsides.
Although no goals were scored in the second half, Cougar offense had done its job and placed the game squarely on the shoulders of what turned out to be a suffocating defense the rest of the way to keep things under control.
"We defended as a team," said Wolf. "The guys put in a ton of work to get back behind the ball and defend, and Morgan (Cathey) did what he needed to do in goal. He was sharp. We didn't give away a ton of quality chances, and in the second half, they had a ton of the ball, but we just stayed patient. Damon (Brooks) did a heck of a job in his first start of the year, especially when you consider he was one-on-one with a first team All-American (Orlando Ramirez)."
The Sunbirds came into the game averaging 7 goals a game, but today they struggled to muster even one quality opportunity, and even the biggest one they put together in the final minutes of the first half was snuffed away by a clutch save from Cathey.
"I felt really good and confident coming into today," said Cathey. "I've had really good practices lately, and our defense played exceptionally well today. This win feels really good."
Azusa Pacific out shot Fresno Pacific 16-10, including an 11-4 margin in the opening half. Cathey made 6 saves to preserve the shutout. It was the first time the Sunbirds have been shutout since last year's 1-0 loss in the NAIA title game and just their third time since 2002.
"For us to shut these guys out speaks volumes about the way we defended today," said Wolf. "We chased really well and defended our end, especially in the second half."
