Box Score

Seaside, CA -- The Academy of Art University women's soccer team came up just short in their 2012 season debut on Thursday, but the Urban Knights showed off some of their new pieces, as freshman Réa Laudat scored in the second half and new goalkeeper Rachael Rempe had six saves in the 3-1 loss at the CSUMB Soccer Complex.

"We still have some work to do as a team to reach our standard,  but I saw some moments of brilliance both defensively and offensively today," said head coach Aileen Nasypany, in her fourth year at the helm. "As the trust builds among new players and returners, we will start functioning better as a unit. I am positive we will get better. The last twenty minutes finished with some great momentum to give us something to build on. The team has already reset and they are excited to get back on the pitch this Saturday for our first home match of the season."

The first half was mostly quiet, as neither team dominated on the offensive half of the pitch. The Otters got on the board in the 38th minute, when sophomore Kelly Piol got it into the bottom left corner of the goal from the right side to take a 1-0 lead. The Knights had a chance with a corner kick late in the half, but couldn't convert it into a scoring chance and went into the locker room down by a goal.

The Otters came out quickly in the second half, finding the back of the goal within the first minute. Kristen Womack, a freshman for Cal State Monterey Bay, dribbled in from the left side and snuck the ball by Rempe to give the Otters a 2-0 lead. 

But the two Urban Knights from England had an answer, and connected to cut the deficit in half. Sophomore Louise Fillingham (Ormskirk, England) found Laudat (Essex, England) who beat the Otters goalkeeper and shot it in the left corner for the Knights first goal of the season.

“CSUMB was trying to beat us over the top all game," said Nasypany. "We made some tactical adjustments at half time and we were able to beat them on a counter attack. The two Brits are very technical players. It's all about combining the right players next to each other on the pitch. I was happy to see them connect and convert as Lou fed a fantastic ball in for Rea to juke the keeper, dribble past her, and pushed it into the back of the net for the first goal of the year.”

Cal State Monterey Bay added to their lead with a goal off a penalty kick in the 74th minute, and that ended up to be the final score as the Otters held on for the 3-1 victory. Andrea Davis had a goal and an assist for CSUMB. Womack led all players with three shots on goal. 

Academy of Art returns home to play Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday at 3:00 PM at City College of San Francisco.