FRESNO, Calif. -- Zanin Mahic broke a scoreless tie early in the first half, then assisted on Eric Alvarado's goal just 25 seconds into the second half as the Sonoma State men's soccer team survived a ferocious comeback attempt by host Fresno Pacific to hold on for a 2-1 victory on Monday night in Fresno.  The Seawolves have won three straight matches, improving to 3-1-0 this season.  The Sunbirds suffered their first loss of the 2014 campaign -- and had their 19-match home win streak snapped in the process -- dropping to 2-1-0.

"That was a lot scarier than it had to be," said SSU head coach Marcus Ziemer.  "At halftime we were up 1-0, but we hit the post twice and the crossbar once. In the second half, we had a lot of chances and scored two goals that were called back because of offsides calls.  With that said, we played really well and generated the most chances we have had for quite a while."

"We are winning as a team," Ziemer added.  "We have a lot of competition for spots and lots of depth, but everybody is celebrating the wins and so far it's been different people stepping up."

The third time was the charm for Mahic to put Sonoma State on the board first.  After his first shot at 15:33 was blocked and his header attempt off of a corner kick 32 seconds later sailed wide, Mahic connected on his third attempt, firing the ball past Fresno Pacific goalkeeper Andrew Luis for the 1-0 lead at 18:09.  The Seawolves continued to control the pace of the first half, eventually outshooting the Sunbirds 10-3 after the opening 45 minutes of the contest.

Before FPU could even blink in the second half, Mahic passed the opening kickoff up to Alvarado, who buried his shot for the 2-0 Seawolf lead at 45:25.

Only seven minutes later, however, the Seawolf defense, which had allowed just one shot over the last 37 minutes of game time, surrendered a goal to the Sunbirds' Guillermo Talancon at 52:33, which seemed to open a flood of shot attempts by both teams.  Fresno Pacific followed with a shot, a corner kick and another shot, all within a minute of its first goal, then just moments later, Sonoma retaliated with two Armando Coronel shots and a header attempt by Andres Ramirez off of a corner kick, also within a minute of each other, none of which found netting to keep the match at 2-1 in favor of SSU.

From then on, the intensity picked up and the final 25 minutes featured six shots, eight fouls, two corner kicks and two offsides calls, but no scores for either squad as Sonoma State held on for the narrow 2-1 non-conference victory in Fresno.

"When FPU scored, it got a little nerve wracking," Ziemer admitted, "especially since we missed so many chances, but we did a great job of finishing off the game. Sean Callahan and Josh Sanchez did a great job in midfield and Zanin was a beast up top scoring a goal and a nice pass to assist on Eric's goal."

Seawolf netminder Sean Taufer made two saves in the win, both in the second half, one of which came in the 86th minute.  Overall, SSU outshot FPU 17-10, including the aforementioned 10-3 margin in the opening period, evening out in the second half at 7-7.  Mahic (4) and Coronel (3) combined for seven of Sonoma's 17 shots. Chris Pihl and Raspreet Sandhu both attempted two.

"Our defense played very well, especially in ball possession," explained Ziemer.  "Daniel Theobald and Andres (Ramirez) were solid in the middle and Dane Shaffar and Ryan Rohane were excellent wide.  Sean (Taufer) played well in goal and is excellent with his feet in buildup.  Our work rate on defense as a team was incredible. We really disrupted their ball possession. 

"We will enjoy this one and then get ready for a tough Academy of Art team on Thursday."

Sonoma State will return home on Thursday when it hosts another member of the Pacific West Conference, Academy of Art.  Kickoff at the Seawolf Soccer Field is set for 5:00 pm.