SAN FRANCISCO – In a matchup of local rivals, Academy of Art University men's soccer played a strong second half, but fell to SF State 2-0 at Cox Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

"We played a very good SF State team today with experience and continuity and we suffered the consequence of not being mentally prepared for the game," said head coach Alex Yi. "We have a lot of new faces in the group and it's going to take more than three games to show the characteristics of what I'm demanding of the players. In the second half, we were better and I'm satisfied that we responded the way we did from the first half."

Six minutes into the match, the Gators struck first as Moses Gutierrez received a pass from Crinan Dunbar to the left side and past a defender for the 1-0 lead. SF State's offense continued to flow early with Carlos Trujeque leal then scoring on a breakaway in which he entered into a one-on-one situation against sophomore goalkeeper Kris Jensson in the 24th minute.

From there, however, the Urban Knights managed to stifle the Gators' attacks and responded with one of their own prior to halftime. In the 45th minute, junior midfielder Adrian Cekala sent a shot quickly on a rebuttal following SF State's shot off the crossbar and the score would remain 2-0 at the break.

A physical second half featured more ART U offense and less from the home team with junior defender Andrew Deans having a shot blocked in the 78th minute following a corner kick by freshman defender Edvard Edvarsson. That attempt was saved as were chances by Cekala in the 79th minute and another by Deans in the 87th minute, resulting in the 2-0 final with SF State on top.

Now 0-1, Academy of Art got a complete 90 minutes from Jensson in goal along with four saves. Cekala had four shots (two on goal) while Deans added two attempts (one on goal).

Academy of Art continues its first week of action on the road at Cal State Monterey Bay this Saturday, Sept. 1.