Saturday, October 2, 2004
Final - #2 FPU 5, Concordia 4

Orlando Ramirez' golden goal with 34 seconds left in the second 10-minute overtime period wins it for the Sunbirds.

Box score

Fresno - It was an old fashioned shoot-out at the O.K. Corral, and when the dust had settled at Steinert Field, the Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds were still standing.

They were still upright, thanks to the last minute heroics of Paul Moran and Orlando Ramirez.

Moran served a ball into the box from the far right flank. Jared Dugger missed the header, but the ball landed at Ramirez feet. Ramirez had a split second to settle it, then hit it hard with his left foot low near-post, past a sprawling Mike Borst in the Concordia goal.

The match-winning golden goal came with just 34 seconds remaining in the second 10-minute overtime period.

"I called for Dugger to flick it too me, but he missed it," said Orlando Ramirez of the match-winner. "It just came to me and I had time to settle it to make sure I got off a good shot."

It was Ramirez 13th goal ot the season.

Dugger opened the scoring at 20:48 with an unassisted goal, but five minutes later Chris Gould tied it.

Six minutes later (31:10) Milton Blanco made it 2-1, on an assist from Cameron Hill. This time it took the Eagles six minutes to tie it with Ismael Cervantes' goal. That made it 2-2 at the break.

Gaston Cignetti made it 3-2 at 49:14 on a nice feed from Fabricio Codeceira, but Gould tied it up again on a penalty kick at 65:45.

Dugger headed in Blanco's corner kick at 80:51 for a 4-3 FPU lead, but Gould tied it at 86:19 with his third goal of the evening on a set piece to force overtime.

"The are a very good team," said head coach Jaime Ramirez. "They counter very well and they countered us all night. We needed a win. We couldn't afford a tie or a loss. Fortunately the guys battled to the very end and found a way to pull it out."

The Sunbirds will host the Biola on Wednesday. Kick-off time at Steinert Field is 7:00 PM.

Updated records
Concordia 4-6-0, 0-2-0
#2 Fresno Pacific 9-1-0, 1-1-0

Updated series records
Overall - FPU leads: 18-1-1
In Fresno - FPU leads: 10-0-0
Last 11 matches: 10-0-1

Notes
FPU will receive a boost today with the return of senior The 2003 NAIA National Player of the Year, Fabricio Codeceira, saw his first action of the season tonight. Codeceira, who has been nursing a nagging abdominal injury and just endured a protracted NAIA inquiry into his amateur status, played the final 65 minutes of the match.