Box Score

AZUSA, Calif. — The Academy of Art University men's soccer team held Azusa Pacific scoreless for more than 70 minutes Thursday, but the first-place Cougars took advantage of opportunities both early and late to come away with a 3-0 Pacific West Conference win at Cougar Soccer Field.
 
APU (12-2, 9-1 PacWest) scored in the eighth minute to take an early 1-0 lead after leading scorer Luke Ackermann beat Academy of Art freshman goalkeeper Alejandro Escobedo 1-on-1 from 15 yards out. Ackermann had received a pass from Kaleb Armbrust through the middle that allowed him to beat the defense for the 1-on-1 against Escobedo.
 
The victory was APU's eighth in a row and 10th in its last 11 matches. Three different players scored for the Cougars, as the team moved to one win away from clinching the PacWest Conference title. For the Urban Knights (5-10, 3-6 PacWest), it was their third shutout loss in their last four games.
 
Azusa Pacific led the shots category 20-6, including outshooting ART U 13-1 in the second half. That advantage led to two more goals in a span of 47 seconds during the 79th minute of the second half, breaking the game open from a close 1-0 contest to a 3-0 lead with 11 minutes to go.
 
Omar Nunez scored the first of back-to-back goals for the Cougars, corralling the rebound of a blocked shot to fire one of his own for the score, snapping a 70:25 scoreless streak in the game that had kept it at 1-0. Off the restart, Jeremy Bishop received the ball and dribbled all the way down the left side, then beat Escobedo on a difficult angle to give APU a 3-0 advantage.
 
Academy of Art next travels to St. George, Utah, to face Dixie State in a 9 a.m. PDT start Saturday.