Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Ian Sutherland, Nicol Biesek, Bob Toy, & Nicole Cofini)

San Francisco, CA -- It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in San Francisco and with the shadows stretching across Kezar Stadium, the Academy of Art University women's soccer team took full advantage of a big crowd, scoring two second-half goals in a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Simon Fraser University. Louise Fillingham and Hannah Emmett provided the one-two punch in front of all of the Academy of Art campus clubs on the inaugural Club Knight as the Urban Knights notched their first victory of the year.

"I knew they would be coming down for redemption," said head coach Aileen Nasypany. "It was a close game, it was a battle up there and I knew it would be a battle today. We really talked about confidence, having good vision, doing our game out there, and the girls had a lot of courage. We had to come back from down a goal and that's something that we can we can take with us the rest of the season."

There were 17 clubs represented in a pregame meet and greet for students who just started classes on Thursday, and more than 300 fans made their way to Kezar Stadium to learn about the numerous extracurricular activities available to all ART U students.*

For the artist-athletes on the pitch, the day started out with neither team able to get much going in the first half. The Urban Knights only got off two shots in the opening period, while Simon Fraser only managed three. That extra shot for the Clan made an impact, though, as Devon Kollmeyer found Sophie D'Souza on a cross, who headed it past Rachael Rempe to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead with less than five minutes to go before halftime.

Just like in their first match against Humboldt State on Thursday, however, the Urban Knights came out in the second half. They would end with 14 shots in the second period, the first of which that went in coming from Fillingham. Fillingham got the ball in transition from Beth Barker and launched a frozen rope from close to 40 yards that sailed by the defense and the outstretched arms of the keeper to equalize in 50th minute.

"Well we've been working a lot on shooting in practice and I saw that the sun was in her eyes," said Fillingham. "We had to talked at halftime about how we had to take our chances, so I just shot it and thankfully it went in."

It was tied up for another 25 minutes until the Urban Knights released a barrage on the SFU goal, which finally paid off after a few deflections in the box as the ball kicked out to Réa Laudat, who fired it in. It was blocked once again, but this time Emmett, the Urban Knights all-time leading scorer, cleared the defense and fired it from the left side to the far post to put the Knights on top 2-1.

"I feel that our team has done really well, and the fact that we came back from down 1-0 just shows how much effort we put in during the preseason," said Laudat. "I'm just excited for our team to see what we've got to do this season. I think since playing them last season we've improved a lot more and that we just have to keep striving forward."

That would prove to be the final score, as the Knights defeated Simon Fraser in their second one-goal margin in two years. Last year in British Columbia, ART U won 1-0 on a late second half goal, and followed up by sending the Clan to their second loss in the Bay Area. This year it was another close game as the Knights held on and kept the pressure on the SFU defense until the final horn, with a big boost coming from the return of Hanna Aronzon to the back line.

"It felt good to get back in after being out and just being part of the team again," said Aronzon. "I feel like we shut them down pretty well and from there we just stepped harder and had a good team effort."

The Urban Knights will hit the road to Southern California to play San Diego Christian University (Sep. 12) and Hope International University (Sep. 14).


*Campus clubs in attendance included: ART U Drumline, Akido Club, Indian Students Association, Urban Knights Radio, EMPower, Drama Club, Start!, Client86, Tea Time Animation Club, Sigma Delta, Kappa Sigma Pi Upsilon, AAU Badminton, M.A.C., BTFR, OutLoud, Running Club, CampusLife, Campus Recreation