Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Verity Peets)
San Francisco, CA -- It was a tale of two halves for the Academy of Art University women's soccer team, as they rebounded on both sides of the ball to shut down Northwest Nazarene University in the second period but still held on to defeat the Urban Knights 2-0. The Crusaders scored two goals in the first half but only managed two shots in the second half, while the Urban Knights improved their offensive chances and came excruciatingly close to finding the back of the net.
The game started out with the Crusaders pushing the ball into Knights territory, but the Knights repelling the attack at every turn. Northwest Nazarene broke through in the 18th minute when Celina Mortensen lifted a cross from the right side to Autumn Yturbe, who headed it just over the reach of goalkeeper
Rachael Rempe to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead. Rempe was tested again soon after but saved two attempts by NNU before a ball in traffic found its way to Sarah Blum who slid the ball past Rempe in the 30th minute to gain a 2-0 advantage for the Crusaders.
The Urban Knights rebounded after the second goal with their counterattack, getting two shots that just missed right before the half.
Réa Laudat, who scored against Cal State Monterey Bay in the opener, missed just wide, while fellow newcomer
Makayla Hickman's shot in front of the goal skimmed right over the top of the crossbar.
After halftime, the Knights buckled down on both sides of the ball, limiting the Crusaders to only two shots and blocking them both. ART U had a chance in the 65th minute when senior captain
Tanner McCandlish got an open look that was turned away by NNU's Tanya Zickefoose. The Knights fought until the end of the game, getting three shots in the last six minutes that were on target, but ART U couldn't get that elusive goal.
The Knights have a game scheduled for next Thursday against Mills College (CA), and will then head across the US-Canada border to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia on September 8th.
