Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Kenny Chacon)

San Francisco, CA – Although six goals were scored between Academy of Art and Point Loma on Saturday out at City College of SF Soccer Field, the end result was a 3-3 tie. Early aggressiveness helped ART U jump out to a 2-0 lead, but the Sea Lions countered with three goals of their own (two in the second period) before Thorvaldur "Thobbi" Sveinsson got the equalizer in the 67th minute. Each team had chances in both overtimes, but neither would get the decisive goal.

"It was a great effort from the guys today," head coach Mike Keller said. "The players are showing big time progress, unfortunately it didn't show with three points today, but I'm proud of the way we went for it."

The Urban Knights came out firing as they sent seven of their 13 first half shots at PLNU goalkeeper Carter Phillips in the first 25 minutes. Among those was the opening attempt by Jesus "Chava" Sanchez in the third minute and later a header by Runar Gudbjartsson that also required Phillips to make the save. However, ART U would finally break through in the 27th minute when Frederik Nagel crossed a ball from the right of the box to Jon "Jay" Eldon for the blast from five yards straight on.

That 1-0 advantage soon became 2-0 when Gudbjartsson headed one home off Aron Ekberg's corner kick in the 32nd minute. Gudbjartsson had headed one off the post just a minute before and did not miss his second chance which came from the left of the box straight into the net.

Five minutes after the early Knights lead, Point Loma got one back on a ball initially punched out by Joshua Leader that found Nico Tagaloa 25 yards out. Tagaloa launched a curling shot that hit the top right corner of the goal and gave his team hope now down 2-1 as the halftime horn soon sounded.

In the second period, Point Loma struck twice more in the 52nd and 57th minutes respectively to move ahead 3-2. The first goal came from Griffin Fuller who got into an open path to an open goal after the pass from Daniel ten Bosch enabled him to beat Leader 10 yards out. Next, Dylan Wingrove received a corner kick from ten Bosch that had again been punched out by Leader, but managed to put it from the left corner of the box to the left post.

Fighting to keep hold of a match they were at one point comfortably leading, the Urban Knights mobilized and soon came back with a goal that combined Eldon and Sveinsson in the 67th minute. Inside the box, Eldon flicked the ball over a PLNU defender to Sveinsson who managed to get around the goalie for a tap in to the back of the net.

"That was a huge moment for us and for those guys," Coach Keller said. "They put up a huge effort all day today and I'm glad they created such a great goal."

Before the end of the regulation, ART U had two incredibly close opportunities to get an edge including Eldon's rocket from the right side that smacked off the crossbar in the 72nd minute and Jonmundur Gretarsson's near tap-in which Phillips somehow collapsed on in the 76th minute. Tied 3-3, the first overtime ensued where PLNU had two chances and Lennart Fleschhut blasted one from the midfield that Phillips saved, leading to another extra period.

The teams traded blocked shot attempts in the waning minutes and Gretarsson even got one last prayer off in the final second, but neither connected and afternoon finished with each side holding a piece of the 3-3 tie.

When the dust had settled, ART U had its first tie of the year, moving the Knights' record to 6-4-1 and 3-2-1 in PacWest play. Eldon and Gudbjartsson had their second goals scored in 2013 while Sveinsson had his first this season. Nagel, Ekberg, and Eldon each added one assist apiece. Defensively, Leader went the full 110 minutes with two saves. Saturday was the fourth time Academy of Art has scored three or more goals in a game this season.

"The guys are playing better all the time and we'll keep working hard to be better," Coach Keller said.

For Point Loma, now 5-4-3 overall and 3-1-3 in PacWest, goals came from Tagaloa, Fuller, and Wingrove. All three assists were credited to ten Bosch. In goal, Phillips logged six saves and allowed three goals in his complete 110 minutes.

The Urban Knights return to the pitch (Crocker Amazon Park) this Monday, Oct. 14 to face Dixie State at 1:00 PM.