Box Score

HAYWARD, Calif. — The Academy of Art University men's soccer team is barreling towards the finish line of the 2014 season and it seems almost no team can stand in their way.
 
Thursday the Urban Knights got goals from three different players to win their second straight game and third in their last four with a 3-2 victory over Holy Names at Pioneer Field on the campus of Cal State East Bay.
 
Juniors Jake Walter, Malcolm McLellan and Kristof Urbanyi all scored for ART U (7-10, 5-6 Pacific West Conference). For Walter and McLellan, it was their first scores since Oct. 4 versus Dominican (Calif.) and Sept. 6 versus Cal State East Bay, respectively. Meanwhile, Urbanyi has five goals in four games and continues to be the Knights' offensive hot commodity. He has notched the game-winning goal in all three of the Urban Knights' last victories.
 
Academy of Art got the scoring started right out of the gate when Walter put the ball in the net in the fifth minute. Walter took advantage of a failed clear attempt by the Holy Names defense, stealing the ball and finding himself with a wide open net for the easy goal and a 1-0 lead.
 
The Hawks (5-12, 3-8 PacWest) would get an equalizer in the 25th minute to make it 1-1. Martin Costantini finished a floating cross from Berdi Merdanov in the box for his first goal of the season.
 
But the scoring wasn't done in the first half. McLellan would make sure the Urban Knights headed into the locker room at halftime with a lead, scoring off an Alex Walsh cross from the right side in the 44th minute to make it 2-1.
 
The score stayed that way through the first 25 minutes of the second half until Urbanyi put in what would prove to be the winning goal. Urbanyi scored from way far out, nearly 50 yards from the goal.
 
Holy Names didn't go down without a fight. In the 87th minute, PacWest leading scorer Jaime Phillips tallied his 19th goal of the season on a penalty kick, making it 3-2 with just over three minutes to play. Freshman goalkeeper Alejandro Escobedo and the ART U defense held on, though, to earn the victory.
 
The Academy of Art men play their season finale at noon Saturday at Skyline College in San Bruno against Notre Dame de Namur. Six seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony before their final game as Urban Knights.