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San Francisco, CA – Challenging a Grand Canyon team ranked 3rd in the West Region, Academy of Art University men's soccer fell to the Antelopes 1-0 despite almost pulling off the upset. The Urban Knights held their opponent scoreless through the first 62 minutes and showed tremendous grit Thursday morning at Treasure Island. Sophomore goalkeeper
Ian Sutherland finished with four saves in a stellar defensive effort by ART U that kept them close until the final horn sounded.
“Since they are ranked third in the West Region, we really wanted to beat Grand Canyon today and set a staple for our program,” Head Coach Daniel Rosaia said. “Our team definitely played hard and battled, but they just could not get over the top. I'm proud of the guys because today we showed that we are close to being top level team by competing hard against a team that's ranked.”
In the opening period, Academy of Art University was determined to gain an early advantage. Junior midfielder
Richard Luna took the first shot of the match just two minutes in, but it sailed wide pulling the GCU keeper to his right. The 12th minute featured another prime opportunity off the foot of junior forward
Andrew "Boomer" Cruz which resulted in a save for Grand Canyon.
Both teams fought for that first score, exchanging six fouls apiece in the first half. The Antelopes did register one shot attempt on frame in the 33rd minute, but
Sutherland was there to keep the score 0-0. Halftime signaled a break to the intense back-and-forth battle that would continue in the second period. Neither team had notched a goal at that time.
“The first 20 minutes of that first half, we were right on them,” Coach Rosaia said. “Our gameplan was to press up high and not let them play the way they wanted. I feel like we did that and we were able to go at them early, but we just didn't finish our chances. Our attacking had them back on their heels though.”
The scoreless match was broken up in the 63rd minute when Grand Canyon's Kyle Ciliento, the Pacific West Conference leading goal-scorer, found the back of the net on a header from 10 feet out. Now trailing GCU 1-0, the Knights increased their intensity. In the 68th minute shortly after the goal, senior midfielder
Kyle Mannschreck had a scoring chance only his shot went too high over the goal.
ART U stayed close with a fresh squad in the final 10 minutes and
Sutherland went on to save another shot by Ciliento in the 85th minute. However, Academy of Art University could not retie the match and wound up taking the tough 1-0 loss. The Knights are now 5-10 overall, 4-7 in PacWest play while the 'Lopes improve to 10-1 in conference, 12-2-1 overall.
Captaining a defense that held Grand Canyon off the scoreboard for 62 minutes was junior defender
Vilmundur Sveinsson. He along with senior defender
Josh Garn helped to ignite the ART U offense while fending off the 'Lopes on numerous occasions in the process.
Sutherland's four saves came in a particularly strong 90-minute effort staving off GCU's goal-hungry forwards.
“Ian had a great game played really strong soccer today,” Coach Rosaia said. “Vimmi gave us a lot of game today. The team just played awesomely out there. I definitely felt like if we got the first goal, we could have finished the game with a win.”
Grand Canyon was led by four shots (two on goal) from Ciliento and Pat Perkins' three shot attempts. Joao Vieira assisted GCU's lone goal while goalkeeper Ben Paneccasio earned the shutout with one save to his credit.
“We have to regroup and get ready for next game Saturday,” Coach Rosaia said. “It was a great day for Academy of Art University men's soccer today because we proved that we can play with anyone in the West Region. You take 1-0 loss to top team like that and you can play anyone.”
With their four-game homestand complete, the Urban Knights now travel to San Rafael, CA for a PacWest meeting with Dominican on Oct. 30. That match will kick off at 12:00 PM on the Penguins' Forest Meadows Field.
