AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific claimed its third consecutive Pacific West Conference victory in nearly identical fashion, scoring a pair of second-half goals to claim a 2-0 win over Fresno Pacific Thursday night.

With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 4-1-1 in PacWest play and remains tied for second in the conference standings. The Cougars are 4-7-1 overall, while Fresno Pacific falls to 3-9-1 overall and 3-3 in the PacWest.

Christine Messner and Kennedy Christie scored Azusa Pacific's goals, the second goal of the season for each scorer.

Messner broke the scoreless tie in the 77th minute with a beautiful free kick tucked just underneath the crossbar from 30 yards out. Both of Messner's goals this season have come on set pieces.

The Cougars kept the pressure on, and the attack produced another goal less than five minutes later. Emmy Koflanovich found sophomore Kaylee Nicoll making a run down the middle of the field towards the end line, where she eluded a pair of defenders and drew the goalkeeper away from the net. From there, she sent the ball across the net from the left side for Kennedy Christie to finish it with a short tap into the goal.

The Sunbirds took three shots in the final eight minutes, with two chances sailing high while Tatum French secured a save with three minutes left to preserve the win. French finished with five saves to record the shutout.

Randi Macadangdang registered a team-high six shots, and she had one of the Cougars' best chances in the game's opening minutes as she made a run down the left side behind the defense for a shot that went just wide.

The second half provided more scoring opportunities for the Cougars, including an Emmy Koflanovich shot which had a rebound that fell to Kellie Yoshihara for a follow-up shot, but it was cleared off the line by a Fresno Pacific defender.

Up next for the Cougars is a Saturday night matchup against Academy of Art on Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Sounds of the game:

"As soon as the second half rolled around, the midfielders did a great job adjusting to open up the middle, and as a result we were able to keep the ball more and have more opportunities on goal." -- Christine Messner

"Coach has been telling us from the beginning to trust the process. We had a rocky start, and we felt like we outplayed several teams and didn't get the result that we wanted. We just kept trusting the process and finishing our opportunities and playing until the whistle blows, and it's a lot more fun to feel happy after the game and not be disappointed." – Randi Macadangdang

"This was one of the best games we've played this year, and I think we were consistent the whole time. Seeing that first goal go in, we knew we had a little bit of a buffer, and that allowed us to be more assertive up top and helped to open up more shooting opportunities." -- Kaylee Nicoll