Box Score

Honolulu, HI -- Junior forward Andrew "Boomer" Cruz and the Urban Knights were simply unstoppable Wednesday morning. In a match that saw Cruz score a historic five goals in the first 56 minutes along with three assists from freshman midfielder Andrew Durano, the Academy of Art University men's soccer team captured a 5-0 victory at Chaminade. Now in the thick of its five-game Hawaii roadtip, ART U earned its second consecutive shutout win, improving to 3-6 overall, 2-4 in the Pacific West Conference.

“The boys really rebounded well from the first loss [to Hawaii Pacific] and are playing very well as a team,” Head Coach Daniel Rosaia said. “They are hustling and working hard. I think we can attribute a lot of their success to the fact that they had a team meeting on their own and have since been playing well as a team.”

Two days removed from their victory at BYU-Hawaii, another early advantage came for the Knights at St. Louis Field when Cruz scored his first goal just 53 seconds in. The ball was placed up top to junior defender Vilmundur Sveinsson where he then sent it out wide to Cruz who came running into scoring position. ART U was on the offensive again following the goal, culminating in a second goal off the foot of Cruz in the 20th minute. This time, freshman forward Patrick Heinemann set up Cruz to score following several passes back-and-forth.

Three minutes later, Durano and Cruz teamed up for their first of two dramatic scores. In the 23rd minute, Durano crossed the ball to Cruz at the top of the six where the junior guided it into the goal. The 24th minute would conclude with Academy of Art University ahead in commanding fashion following another exciting play from the tandem. During a run of play, Durano crossed the ball to the back post where Cruz trapped it and finished off the goal.

Along with the impressive offense, the Urban Knights held the Silverswords to just one shot in the opening period which resulted in one of sophomore goalkeeper Ian Sutherland's three saves on the day. Sutherland and the ART U defense would go on to shut out Chaminade in the second half.

Coming out of halftime in front 4-0, the Urban Knights continued their strong defensive effort while Cruz put in his fifth and final goal in the 56th minute. The play began with a corner kick from Durano that went short to Heinemann. Heinemann craftily flicked the ball to the center and Cruz for the score.

“Boomer had a fantastic game, but the guys surrounding him really helped him to be great,” Coach Rosaia said. “He was well supported by Durano, Vimmi, and Patrick today. Boomer is doing exactly what we thought he would do.”

History was made in more ways than one with the five goals by Cruz. His single-game record serves as the most goals scored by any PacWest men's soccer athlete in conference history and tops the previous mark of three goals dating back to the 2007 season. Prior to Cruz's outburst, the most goals ever scored by an Academy of Art University men's soccer athlete in one game was three by Mario Pineda last season against Pacific Union on Sept. 1, 2009.

In addition, matching Cruz's performance up with NCAA Division II Men's Soccer records, the five goals in one match would tie him for 21st overall. They also boost Cruz to being ranked 2nd in total goals scored for the PacWest after he was outside the top 10 entering Wednesday's match. His seven shots in one game rank third all-time for Academy of Art University men's soccer. He also now leads ART U with six goals on the season and 12 total points.

For all the accolades, Cruz was not the only one instrumental in the Knights' victory Wednesday morning. Durano became the third PacWest athlete in the last three years to notch three assists in one match. He is also the only Urban Knight ever to have accomplished the feat. Complementing Durano, Heinemann added two assists in just his third game wearing the Academy of Art University black and red. Sveinsson had one assist in the contest (the first of his three-year Urban Knight career).

On the offensive side, ART U outshot Chaminade 20-5 which ties the Academy of Art University team record for shots in a game. Defensively, the shutout by Sutherland is third of his career and the first time an Urban Knight has done so in consecutive fashion. He had three saves and played a complete 90 minutes.

“That's back-to-back shutouts for Ian,” Coach Rosaia said. “He has stepped in at goalkeeper at an important moment and has really been a strong leader for the team. It was just a great team effort and that's our third game on the islands so a great win.”

The Silverswords had two shots from forward Michael Marrs including one on frame while single shots on goal came for Jordan Kitabayashi and Michael Werdien. In goal, Daniel Dartt notched six saves with five goals allowed. The loss puts Chaminade at 1-4 overall, 0-3 in conference play.

ART U kicks off a rematch against Hawaii-Hilo this Friday, Oct. 1 in Hilo, HI. When the teams met earlier this season in San Francisco, the Knights fell to the Vulcans 2-0 despite outshooting them 13-11. The PacWest pairing is scheduled to be in at 12:45 PM HST (3:00 PM PST) at Amauulu Field.