Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Kier LaCrosse & Tony Gallegos)

Riverside, CA -- The Urban Knights fought hard against Cal Baptist on Saturday afternoon, but the Lancers came away with the victory in both teams' Pacific West Conference opener. Solid defense had Academy of Art only down one at halftime, but the Lancers had five players with multiple shots on goal and four different players find the back of the net in the second half to take home a 5-0 win.

"We only allowed one goal in the first half," said head coach Aileen Nasypany. "Our team played very solid defense, which was part of our gameplan from the beginning."

Goalkeeper Jessica Bibby had a career-high 11 saves, but the pure volume of shots by the Lancers was too much to handle.  Bibby saved six of seven shots in the first half, and at that point the defense was putting together a solid effort.

The Urban Knights (1-3) got three shots off against Cal Baptist, who won their fourth in a row. Margaret Thorolfsdottir, who played hero last week in the 1-0 victory against Dominican, missed just wide on what would have been the equalizer less than five minutes after the Lancers scored their first goal.

Cal Baptist was led by forward Amanda Lammers, who had two goals and an assist, Preseason All-PacWest Team selection Fabiola de Silva, who added a goal and an assist. The Lancers (5-1) got off 35 shots against ART U and 17 on goal.

Once the second half started, the Lancers started their shot barrage against Bibby and the Urban Knights. Lammers scored her first goal of the day five minutes into the second half on a shot to the far post after playing off a deflection from Eva Solis. Solis and Lammers waited fifteen minutes and then hooked up to find the back of the net again on a top shelf header to put Cal Baptist up 3-0. 

Two minutes after that, Lammers had another chance, but was turned away by Bibby. Unfortunately, de Silva was there waiting and got put the rebound inside the right post. The Lancers got their final goal of the day from Silvia Sanchez in the 76th minute off a corner kick by Channing Perea.

"The girls never gave up," said Nasypany. "Due to a few injuries, we could not deliver the same balanced performance in the second half that we did in the first half, but the girls never gave up." 

Since joining the PacWest this year, Cal Baptist has been nothing short of impressive, leaping to the top of the standings and peppering the PacWest with Player of the Week accolades in all sports. The former NAIA school is now tied for first place in the PacWest, and has outscored their opponents 20-1 in six contests.