SAN FRANCISCO – Gaining a lead less than three minutes into Saturday's Pacific West Conference match out at CCSF, Academy of Art University men's soccer closed its current homestand with a 3-0 victory over Azusa Pacific. The early goal by junior forward Justin Erhunmwunsee was backed by one from sophomore midfielder Alexander Tombach just 15 minutes later then junior defender Ricardo "Ricky" Mendoza finished a chance in the 64th minute before ART U completed the shutout.

Fans had hardly settled when sophomore midfielder Jon Johannesson launched a shot at the Azusa Pacific defense in the third minute. Though it was saved, the rebound came right to Erhunmwunsee who turned the Urban Knights' initial opportunity into a 1-0 lead, giving Johannesson the assist for his quality look.

After freshman goalkeeper Kevin Mendez posted three saves to maintain the margin, Tombach and senior midfielder Kristof Urbanyi teamed up for ART U's second goal in the 18th minute. Counterattacking after a shot by the Cougars, Urbanyi deftly played a ball across midfielder to enable Tombach's one-on-one with the APU goalkeeper which he touched to the net from 10 yards out.

Azusa Pacific would not go lightly after the early 2-0 Academy of Art advantage and the 33rd minute was a testament to their potential for a rebuttal. In less than seven seconds, Mendez made a pair of incredible saves to bookend a shot off the crossbar, keeping the Cougars off the scoreboard.

In the 64th minute, Tombach was in the mix once again, receiving a quick cross from sophomore midfielder Dominic Payerchin to open up a scoring opportunity. Though Tombach's initial shot was saved, Mendoza came in for another rebound and ART U gained a 3-0 lead. From that point, one final save was all Mendez needed to finish the clean sheet as Academy of Art prevailed over APU for the first second time in four meetings.

For the now 6-6-2 (4-4-1 PacWest) Urban Knights, Erhunmwunsee netted his third goal of the year while both Tombach and Mendoza each put in their first. Tombach also picked up his team-high third assist while Mendez' eight saves combined with the ART U defense for their fourth shutout of 2015.

Azusa Pacific drops to 3-8-2 overall and 3-5-1 in conference play having lost their fourth consecutive match. Keenan Armbrust finished with a team-high three shots on goal while goalkeeper Tyler Jaramillo had four saves while allowing three goals in 90 minutes.

Academy of Art plays its final two road matches of the season next week, traveling to Notre Dame de Namur (Oct. 29) and Dominican (Oct. 31) to finish the month of October.