SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art men's soccer hung tough in their 2024 season with Head Coach Danny Kirkland closing out his third season at the Urban Knights' helm in a year focused on building towards the future with 13 new players competing for the squad.

As the team started the year off with a match against Cal State Monterey Bay on Sept. 5, where ART U saw great improvement against the California Collegiate Athletic Association opponent in comparison to the season prior, the Knights followed it up by battling against a trio of out-of-state schools thereafter. The first of those three was in a home contest against MSU Denver on Sept. 14, where ART U collected their first tie of 2024 in the scoreless draw with the Roadrunners. While following it up by heading out to Texas, St. Mary's (Tex.) was the first opponent the squad would see on Sept. 19, and St. Edward's followed behind on Sept. 21 in a match ART U took down 1-0 from a first collegiate score from freshman midfielder Keita Goto. Soon after on Sept. 25, Academy of Art closed out non-conference play against Stanislaus State and headed into Pacific West Conference action.

Traveling to the Hawaiian islands was next up on ART U's agenda to begin PacWest play as the team competed against UH Hilo on Oct. 1, Chaminade on Oct. 4, and Hawaii Pacific on Oct. 6. Starting the trip off against the Vulcans, the Knights attempted to create a late comeback as they saw a score come from sophomore midfielder Joey Glaab in the 79th minute, but the Vulcans held strong for the last 10 minutes to secure a 2-1 victory. Three days later against Chaminade, ART U would come out with their second and final draw of the season after junior forward Kristian Lonvig scored off a penalty kick to tie up the match 1-1. It was the first goal for Lonvig in an ART U uniform and was the lone goal to get through while the team struck their season-high in shots on goal (7) in the match. Lastly against HPU, redshirt freshman Florian Grollmann did well to keep the contest within just a score, as he secured six saves within the 1-0 final in favor of the Sharks. 

Once again looking to create yet another late comeback against Biola back at home on Oct. 10, sophomore forward Fabrizio Garrido put away his first ART U score as well as the conversion came from an offensive play created by himself gliding across the box, recollecting the ball off an Eagle defender's clearance, and striking towards the left post to see it get past the goalkeeper. The Knights followed the match up still in the area but on the road against Dominican on Oct. 17, and then returned home on Oct. 19 to compete with Fresno Pacific. Goto netted his second goal of the season against the Sunbirds as it was the first score of the contest while his surrounding cast assisted by putting up the most shots of the season thus far (16) to keep the pressure on.

Taking a quick detour out of conference action were the Knights as they played host to Cal Maritime on Oct. 23. The match featured a plethora of scores from Academy of Art including two from Glaab, while senior defender Chris Stokes and sophomore midfielder Heath Nager each knocked through one apiece. With the success in the win, ART U additionally got off 19 shots, their season-high. 

While ART U took on a duo of Northern California PacWest schools after the win in Menlo on Oct. 26 and Jessup on Oct. 30, the Knights went on to score in each contest with Lonvig securing his second of the year and junior forward Adrian Lechuga knocking in his first in unassisted fashion. To close out 2024, ART U played host to an additional trio, this time of Southern California schools as each Westmont, Azusa Pacific, and No. 6 Point Loma visited the Knights on Nov. 2, Nov. 4, and Nov. 9. Grollmann conducted his season-high in saves against both the Warriors and Sea Lions in this stretch, as he recorded eight in each contest.

Before the match against PLNU, Academy of Art honored their two seniors, Stokes and forward Elvis Mensah, as the two upperclassmen signed off on seven years of experience between the pair towards the success of the program.

Over the course of the season, the team statistics rounded out with Adrian Lechuga and Lonvig sharing the top spot in points on the squad (7), while Glaab was right behind (6), as he scored the most goals (3). Grollmann was the only man seen in net all season long as he played in every minute (1,530), and he showed what he is capable of as he finished fourth in the conference leaders in saves per game (4.50). Sophomore midfielder Xander Cleaves made an appearance as a face for the team as well this year, bringing home a 2024 CSC Academic All-District Team honor to close out the year.

As the squad looks forward to the 2025 season, they will take away some key progression from the 2024 campaign.