FRESNO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's soccer team battled to a 1-1 draw in its first ever meeting with Fresno Pacific University on Thursday night at Ramirez Field.
With the result, the Bobcats (1-0-1) have tallied at least one point in four of their last five road openers dating back to 2020.
For the second consecutive game, the Bobcats struck early and it was Diego Fresquez off an assist from Daniel Borges for UC Merced's goal in the 5th minute.
Fresquez one-timed a Borges pass from the penalty stripe completing a successful counterattack, marking both their first goal and assist of the season, respectively. Jimmy Perkins started the counterattack breaking up a FPU corner kick and then Borges dribbled approximately ¾'s of the field outpacing the defense before playing it to his fellow senior.
FPU created plenty of opportunities looking for the equalizer, but Angel Joaquin stood strong between the posts and made three saves within the first 16 minutes of action. He recorded one more save before intermission, and Andres Alonso made a clean slide tackle to help end another FPU threat to keep the Bobcats up 1-0 at halftime.
The host Sunbirds continued to apply pressure in the second half and were rewarded a penalty kick in the 56th minute that Lucas Ribeiro drilled to tie the game at 1-1.
From there, action picked up even more and both teams traded scoring opportunities. Borges and Jesus Ponce made things tough on the Sunbirds but the match remained tied after 90 minutes.
Inside of five minutes, Borges got behind the defense but was then tripped up just outside the box stopping the advantage. The Sunbird guilty of the foul was issued a yellow card but the threat didn't result in a game-winning goal.
FPU had the last chance as the ten-second countdown was on but the shot sailed high.
FPU outshot UC Merced 10-5, 5-1 on target.
Alonso, Edwin Casillas, and Xavier Barajas played all 90 minutes.
Joaquin was credited with four saves.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will travel to Jessup to face the Warriors on Tuesday, September 17. First touch from Warrior Field in Rocklin, Calif., is scheduled for 2:00pm.
