Box Score
Chico, CA-- The Academy of Art men's soccer team dropped its season opener last night to CCAA powerhouse Chico State University, 2-0. The match also marked the opening of the 2009 Wildcat Invitational.
Despite being out shot in the first half, 5-2, the Urban Knights defense battled hard and went into halftime tied 0-0. "I am really happy with our first half performance, our guys battled hard" Coach Rosaia said.
The Wildcats struck first in the second half scoring the first goal of the match at the 51st minute mark, Kyle Crain converted on a penalty kick to put Chico up by one. Then almost exactly four minutes later, Evan Armstrong headed the ball in in the 55th minute.
For AAU junior Frankie Diaz (Tracy, CA) and freshman Brazer Bozlak (Gavle, Sweden) notched the only shots for the Urban Knights with Diaz's being the only shot on goal. The Urban Knights finished the match being out shot 2-10.
“Chico State is a very strong long time soccer program, I am proud of our guys, they battled back graciously and hard”, Said Coach Rosaia. “We have five more games to prepare for league and these games are helping us tremendously”
Up next for the Academy of Art (0-1-0) is a matchup with CSU Monterey Bay (0-0-0) Saturday Aug 29 at 4:30 PM. Following their match St. Martin's and CSU Monterey Bay will wrap up the Invitational with a match Monday morning at 11 AM.
