Box Score

San Francisco, CA — Junior midfielder Malcolm McLellan scored the first goal of the Academy of Art University men's soccer 2014 season Thursday, striking a ball out of the air with his left foot to score from 20 yards away, but it was visiting Cal State San Bernardino that came away with a 4-1 victory at Boxer Stadium.
 
With the Urban Knights (0-1) trailing 2-0 in the second half, McLellan found himself alone at the top of the box with a loose ball coming right toward him following a corner kick. With one swing of his left leg he buried the ball in the back of the net, beating CSUSB goalkeeper Ivan Sanchez to the top left corner to cut the score to 2-1 in the 50th minute.
 
Cal State San Bernardino (1-0) got on the board first in the 11th minute when Tony Lo caught ART U starting goalkeeper Luca Theis out of the box, stealing the ball and firing a shot on net for a 1-0 lead. Freshman goalkeeper Alejandro Escobedo came in as a substitute after that play and made his collegiate debut, playing the next 79 minutes of the match. He would finish with a game-high five saves.
 
The Urban Knights were able to keep the Coyotes off the board for the rest of the first half, going into halftime only trailing 1-0. But CSUSB came out firing in the second half, taking 12 shots and scoring three times.
 
Just 1 minute, 44 seconds into the second half, Cal State San Bernardino struck again to take a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back shots caused a problem in the box for ART U, as Escobedo saved the first shot from Diego Mendoza but Juan Carlos Gonzalez netted the deflection from 12 yards out with a straight-on shot.
 
After McLellan made it a one-goal game, the Urban Knights had a chance to tie it at 2-all eight minutes later. ART U got the ball inside the goalkeeper box and freshman Sam McKay took a shot from the left that went wide, but it landed right in the lap of senior midfielder Carlos Hernandez. He pump faked then took a shot that Sanchez grabbed with both hands to make the save.
 
Cal State San Bernardino would pull away after that, adding an insurance goal in the 74th minute to go up 3-1. Gonzalez scored his second goal of the contest from inside the box off a baseline cross from Larry Llamas. Five minutes later Alfonso Cano collected his own rebound after his first shot was blocked and buried his next to make it 4-1.
 
The Urban Knights continue their season-opening homestand at noon on Saturday when they host Cal State East Bay at CCSF.