Match #1
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. Pacific Union Pioneers (1-1)
Sunday, February 5, 2021 at 5 p.m.
Angwin, Calif. – PUC Soccer Field
Live Stats & Live Video

Riding the momentum of memorable spring season, Academy of Art University men's soccer ventures into its 2021 fall campaign this week. Blending its talented returners with a dynamic recruiting class, ART U hopes to make the program's 14th year one of its best.

Contesting a 17-match schedule, ART U will play a total of seven non-conference matches with six of those coming before the start of Pacific West Conference action. The Urban Knights open on the road at Pacific Union (Sept. 5), at SF State (Sept. 9), and at Stanislaus State (Sept. 12) before hosting Cal State Monterey Bay (Sept. 16) then traveling to Chico State (Sept. 19) and Holy Names (Sept. 22). PacWest play starts with a Southern California roadtrip at Biola (Sept. 30) and Point Loma (Oct. 2) before Academy of Art returns home host UH Hilo (Oct. 8), HNU (Oct. 10), and Fresno Pacific (Oct. 16). ART U visits SoCal once again to take on Concordia (Oct. 23) and Azusa Pacific (Oct. 25), meets FPU for a non-conference matchup on Oct. 28, then remains in the Bay Area for the final three contests. Those include Hawaii Pacific (Oct. 31) followed by Senior Day against Chaminade (Nov. 4), and the regular season finale at Dominican on Nov. 11. For a more in-depth look at the 2021 schedule, click here!

On a roster that carries 10 upperclassmen, forward Adrian Cekala and defender Armando Rivera represent the senior class. In the Knights' 2019 and 2020-21 campaigns, Cekala paced the team in both goals and points and, after scoring six goals in the spring, he finds himself third in program history in both career points (32) and career goals (14) entering the fall. He was a member of the All-PacWest NorCal Team after ranking second in the PacWest in goals scored earlier this year.

An extensive collection of juniors includes goalkeeper Davis King, defender Logi Saemundsson, defender/midfielder Edvard Edvardsson, midfielder Gilli Kristjansson, midfielder/forward Breki Einarsson, and forwards Fannar Omarsson and Nnaemeka Chinatu along with incoming defender Jose "JJ" Cortez. All returners had hands in the team's two spring shutouts with King registering 20 saves while playing all 548 minutes between the posts. Cortez is a transfer from Clovis Community College where he contributed to five shutouts of his own and was selected to the All-State Team with the Rush.

The sophomore group is made up of four returners in midfielders William Mychaltchouk and Kendryx Soriano, midfielder/defender Chase Arlak, midfielder/forward Gilly Miller. An exciting debut season for Miller saw him named PacWest Newcomer of the Year and All-PacWest NorCal Team after he scored two goals in four matches started this past spring.

Transferring into the program as sophomores this season, midfielder Christian Schaffner and forward Alfonso Gonzalez bring valuable skill sets with the former contributing to Ithaca College's 16-0 goal differential in four matches as a freshman and the latter earning Best Newcomer of the Year with La Sierra previously.
 
Though freshmen, the returning trio of defender Bilal Mihoubi, midfielder Elvis Mensah, and forward/midfielder Rolando Ortiz collectively played more than 1,193 minutes on the pitch in the spring. Mensah posted one goal and two assists in his six matches while Mihoubi earned a spot on the All-PacWest NorCal Team for his outstanding play on the back line. The freshman class is joined by goalkeeper Omer Tal who was a part of championship-winning teams with Maccabi Haifa U17 in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and won the Israel Youth League Cup in 2016.

This Sunday marks the official beginning of Academy of Art's collective journey here in 2021.