Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Sunbirds swamp Hope International

Fabricio Codeceira's three goal hat-trick powered the Sunbirds to a 6-0 Golden State Athletic Conference win over the Hope International University Royals at Steinert Field this evening.

The win pushed the record of the No. 5 Sunbirds to 12-1-0 overall and 5-0-0 in GSAC play.

Orlando Ramirez opened the scoring at 13:46 with an unassisted goal. It was his 17th of the season. Codeceira (18:43) and Jared Dugger (19:32) scored less than 60 seconds apart for a 3-0 lead at the half.

Joshua Kaminski made it 4-0, heading in Codeceira's corner kick at 66:12. The prettiest goal of the night came at 82:10 and belonged to Codeceira on a give and go. He started the play with a crisp pass to Ramirez. Ramirez one-timed it back to Codeceira who had beaten his defender, then hammered past Mark Abate in the Royals goal. Codeceira completed his hat trick at 84:55 on a penalty kick (hand ball in the box).

Abate was busy in the Royals goal. The Sunbirds launched 48 shots on the evening, 27 on goal. Abate was credited with 21 saves, a half dozen or more in the spectacular variety.

"They (the Royals) have improved," said FPU coach Jaime Ramirez. "I thought they gave a good effort through out the match, but we have people who can score."

Tonight's win was the 150th of Ramirez' career.

FPU will be in San Diego this Saturday for a 1:00 PM date with Point Loma Nazarene.