SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art men's soccer captured their second straight Pacific West Conference matchup in a 3-2 win over Hawai'i Pacific at CCSF Soccer Field on Saturday. 

"We're really pleased with how the past week has gone," said Head Coach Danny Kirkland. "The performances have been good and the boys have shown an excellent attitude and work ethic which ultimately resulted in two good wins."

In the 20th minute of the match, junior forward Alejandro Palos put the Urban Knights up 1-0 with his first of five shots, which was sent in to him by senior midfielder/forward Gilly Miller. As Palos faked with his right foot at the top corner of the box, he then cut inside to bend it around the Sharks' goalkeeper to get it to go in off the far post. The assist would tie the ART U record for most assists in a career by an individual player (12).

Shortly after the Knights' score, the Sharks, who are now 1-6-2 overall and 0-2 in the PacWest Conference, came out hungry to even up the scoring, and did just that as Leandro Weingartner pulled out the same trick as Palos, faking right at the top center of the box and knocking it in with a left foot towards the right post. 

In the 37th minute, sophomore midfielder Nixon Thompson found himself scoring his first goal of the season and second of his career, as he kept the ball low with a shot from the top of the box towards the left post. This score would feature Miller's second assist of the match, and make him the new all-time leader in most assists by an Urban Knight (13).

Academy of Art would go into the half up with the lead of 2-1 with seven shots through 45 minutes of play. After a shot by freshman midfielder Joey Glaab in the 54th minute, the Knights were looking to keep the offensive pressure on, as Miller once again dribbled his way down towards the goal and got pulled down by an HPU defender which resulted in a penalty kick. Miller managed to make the goalkeeper guess the wrong way as he scored it easily to his left and gave the Knights a two-goal lead.

Around 10 minutes of play would pass before Weingartner would strike once again for the Sharks, getting the opportunity to step up to take a penalty and putting it away. HPU would get multiple more chances following thereafter, including two shots and one corner kick, but could never tie the match up as the Urban Knight defense had them locked up. Freshman goalkeeper Ronaldo Gutierrez recorded another full 90 minutes in goal, adding four more saves to his season total. ART U moves up to fourth place in the PacWest Conference standings with a 2-1 record while being 2-6-3 overall. 

"We've put a big emphasis on grinding out results lately," said Kirkland. "The quality in possession has been good at times and to score eight goals in the last week is pleasing, with a handful of different goal scorers weighing in. Now the focus switches to building on this momentum again next week in Southern California."

Academy of Art continues PacWest play as they take a trip down to begin with Concordia on Oct. 7 at Golden Eagles Field with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m.