The Ventura County Fusion men's soccer team missed its opportunity to leap into first place in the Southwestern Division Thursday night in Fresno.

The Fusion's Kyle Kaveny and the Fuego's Nehemias Blanco exchanged headed goals midway through the second half as the visiting Fusion drew the Fresno Fuego, 1-1, at Chukchansi Park.

A win would have pushed the Fusion (6-1-4) over first-place Hollywood United (7-2-2) and Los Angeles Legends (7-2-2) by a single point.

That looked like the destination for the Fusion just past the hour mark, when Kaveny rose to head home a Hagop Chirishian corner kick for his first goal in a Fusion shirt.
Chirishian leads the team with three assists.

The Fusion return home for a doubleheader Saturday night at Buena High. The Fusion women (1-2-2) host defending W-League champion Pali Blues (4-0-3) at 5:30 p.m. while the Fusion men follow with a match against the BYU Cougars.

Danny Page e-mails in from the Fusion bus, which is currently northbound.

"We've just set off from the Crowne Plaza for the long haul to Fresno
for tonights showdown between Fusion and the FuegoN kickoff at 7PM.

The bus is buzzing with talk of Brazil's game with South Africa and
the United States win over Spain.

But of more immediate importance is last nights result from the PDL
Southwest Division; Los Angeles Legends beat Orange County Blue Star,
2-1, to move to the top of the table with Hollywood United.
Nonetheless, a win tonight will move Fusion into sole possesion of
first place and leave their souther rivals LA and Hollywood a point
behind.

Broadcast at 7 p.m. live on HomeFieldSports.com

- DP"