Warriors Rally to Play to a 2-2 Draw with FPU in Home Opener
TURLOCK, Calif.--- Stan State used two late goals to key its second half rally to tie with the visiting Fresno Pacific Sunbirds, 2-2, in the Warriors' home opener. Jacob Ramirez and Adrian Yepez each scored the hosts' goals with Edgar Castaneda and Kenneth Solares recording the assists.
FIRST HALF: Sammy Villanueva had the match's first shot attempt go over the goal in just the second minute for the Warriors. One minute later, the Warriors' Angel Ruiz-Hernandez recorded one of his three saves on the evening stopping Fresno Pacific's Bryan Lopez shot on goal attempt. The Warriors had two more chances to take the lead but both Landon Leal Ruiz's and Jacob Ramirez' shot attempts went wide of the goal. Fresno Pacific (0-1-4) took the 1-0 lead in the 16th minute on a goal by Chris Macias off a cross from Lucas Ribeiro. The Sunbirds doubled their lead on a goal by Ribeiro off Brandon Lopez's pass in the 19th minute. Stan State had a chance to cut into the deficit when Adrian Yepez's shot was stopped by the Sunbirds' Elmer Carballo.
SECOND HALF: The Warriors (3-1-1) came out of the halftime with fire. They had two chances early in the new half to cut into the Sunbird lead when Alecxander Cuellar's shot went wide of the goal and Carballo stopped Leal Ruiz's shot on goal attempt in the 54th minute. The hosts had two more chances in the 67th minute to cut the deficit but Edgar Castaneda's shot and Sammy Villanueva's shots went over the goal and to the right to keep the score FPU 2-0. Jacob Ramirez connected on a ball from Castaneda in the 76th minute to cut the Sunbird lead to 2-1. Two minutes later, Elio Corral saw his two chances to tie the match go over the goal. The Warriors tied the match at 2-2 with five minutes left when Adrian Yepez scored off a pass from Kenneth Solares. Stan State had a chance to take the lead be stopped by the Sunbirds' keeper off the foot of Castaneda with two minutes left in regulation. Stan State had one final chance on a free kick but Cuellar's attempt with less than a minute to go sailed high over the goal to end the match in a 2-2 tie.
TALE OF TWO HALVES: This evening was a tale of two halves at Warrior Field. Fresno Pacific outshot the Warriors in the first half 11-6 including 4-3 in shot on goal attempts. Stan State outshot the Sunbirds in the second half 11-2 including 4-0 in shot on goal attempts. Of the Warriors' 17 shot attempts, Elio Corral and Jacob Ramirez each had three and Alecxander Cuellar, Edgar Castaneda, Landon Leal Ruiz, Sammy Villanueva, and Adrian Yepez each had two.
UP NEXT: The Warriors will be in San Francisco for a 11:00 a.m. match with Academy of Art at SF Glens at Treasure Island Field on Wednesday, September 25. They will finish off their non-conference play with a 7:00 p.m. match at Chico State on Saturday, September 28. Stan State returns home October 4 and 6 when the Warriors begin CCAA play against Cal State Dominguez Hills (Friday, October 4 at 4:30 p.m.) and #3 Cal State Los Angeles (Sunday, October 6 at 11:30 a.m.)
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