IRVINE, Calif. -- Academy of Art men's soccer took on Concordia in their first away match of their Southern California trip, and despite sophomore defender Teo Benedick recording his first career assist with a ball sent into junior defender Abraham Valencia, the Urban Knights dropped the match to the Golden Eagles 3-1.

The Knights attack looked strong, collecting their first shot on goal from Valencia in the opening minute of the game. Senior midfielder/forward Gilly Miller and junior forward Alejandro Palos had shots of their own early on in the match, getting none to go with their three shots in the first 20 minutes of play. After a couple scores from CUI's Kevin Sanchez and Tyler Oakson to take a 2-0 lead, Valencia finally found his score in the 45th minute as redshirt sophomore midfielder Elvis Mensah assisted the ball up to Benedick to dish it into the junior defender for an Urban Knights goal. ART U would go into the half down a score, but with momentum looking for a comeback.

The Knights began the second half with determination and the score remained unchanged until the 83rd minute when Sanchez of Concordia found his second goal of the match to go up 3-1. Freshman midfielder Joey Glaab had his chance shooting for the goal in the second half, but ended up just wide of the left post.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jaiden Brooks made an appearance in net for the second half as he tacked on two saves towards his 2023 campaign, now ranking third in the PacWest Conference rankings (4.2) and second in total saves (42).

With the loss, Academy of Art drops to 2-7-2 overall and 2-2 in conference matchups. The Urban Knights will finish off their SoCal trip with a match against Azusa Pacific, squaring off in Azusa, Calif. at the Cougar Soccer Complex on Monday, Oct. 9 at 5 p.m.