Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Rob Garcia & Colin Preston)

San Francisco, CA -- It was Senior Day for the Academy of Art women's soccer team, and in the final home game of the 2012 season, the Urban Knights gave the fans quite a show, but ultimately fell in a 2-1 overtime loss to Notre Dame de Namur University. Rachael Rempe set the program record with 19 saves, but a goal halfway through the first extra period gave the Argos the sudden-death win.

The two seniors on the team were honored before the game and both Jasmine Sharpe and Tanner McCandlish left it all on the field, with each making a number of hard defensive plays that kept the Argos from getting any sort of rhythm going. The first half was one of defense, as neither team was able to score and Rempe totaled 10 saves. The Urban Knights had two corner kicks in the first ten minutes, but were only able to get two shots off, as Beth Barker's shot went high and Hannah Emmett's attempt in the 25th minute was wide, and the teams went into the break deadlocked and scoreless.

"We've really worked on playing 90 minutes of strong soccer and battling through," said head coach Aileen Nasypany. "I thought both of our seniors, in their last home game, really stepped up. They are 'leadership by example,' 100 percent, and the rest of the team followed them."

Coming out of halftime, it seemed that whichever team made the first mistake was going to have an uphill battle. But when Notre Dame de Namur scored in the 48th minute on a goal from Alexis Tershay, the Knights didn't flinch. At a 1-0 disadvantage, it took fifteen minutes for ART U to turn it around. On a clearing kick by the goalkeeper, midfielder Louise Fillingham jumped in front of the Argos back line to launch a header up the line to launch a header up the line to Makayla Hickman, who juked by the defenders and shot the ball past the keeper to equalize.

That score held throughout the second half, as both sides picked up the offensive attack. Rempe continued to turn away the Argos attempts again and again, blowing past her previous high of 10 saves and setting a school record, including the last save in regulation with four seconds remaining on the clock that sent the game into extra time.

The two teams went into the extra period, and the Argos took all four of the shots in OT, the final two combining to make up what would be the game-winning goal. There was a shot by Adriana Cortes that Rempe got a hand on but trickled back into play. The Argos crossed the rebound over to the left side and Massiel Castellanos punched it in for the sudden-death goal.

It seems that every game played between the Knights and the Argos is a hard-fought battle that threatens extra time, and if you look at the history books its true. Every year since 2008 the Urban Knights have played NDNU, and every year there has been at least one game that goes to overtime. This year proved no exception, but unfortunately the Urban Knights were denied their first overtime win of the year.

"It's bittersweet," said senior Jasmine Sharpe. "We didn't really know how the game was going to go or what to expect, but my team battled, and battled for us seniors, throughout the whole game. We've battled through every year together, pushing each other in school and on the soccer field, so [Tanner]'s my little buddy out there."

Friday marked the final home game of the year, but there season is not get finished, as they have to make the last road trip of the year to Hawaii, where they will play Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of next week.