Box Score

Kaneohe, HI -- The Academy of Art women's soccer team has been playing close matches all season long, and Thursday afternoon at Atherton Field was yet another one of those games, deadlocked in a defensive battle with PacWest foe Hawai'i Pacific. That was until junior Hannah Emmett, the Urban Knights all-time leading scorer, found the back of the net for her 15th career goal and 35th career point to propel ART U to their second victory in a row on their island road trip.

"Winning on the road is difficult, the distractions and unfamiliarity is a challenge, especially in Hawaii," said head coach Aileen Nasypany. "I am very proud of my team's ability to focus on the task at hand when it is time to take the pitch. They are dialed in and their camaraderie to battle for the entire ninety minutes for each other and the new standard of ART U women's soccer is shining through."

The game started off as another scoreless battle, and the Urban Knights and Sea Warriors got right into it. Emmett had a chance on the goal less than a minute into the game, but Kelby Boswell steered it away. Rachael Rempe answered with a save of her own on the header from Andrea Aguirre, the second-leading scorer for HPU. The Sea Warriors top goal scorer, Meghan Fuller, was turned away three times by Rempe, taking four shots overall and not connecting once, and the two teams went into the halftime break still tied 0-0.

"This young group has worked incredibly hard to keep top teams in the conference off the board," said Nasypany. "Today was no different as HPU has some very talented attackers. Each of our backs made extraordinary plays to shut them down when it was their moment to shine."

It was only six minutes into the second half that Emmett saw her chance to score, and after a corner kick by Beth Barker, HPU fouled, setting up a free kick just outside the box. After a scramble, Emmett ended up with a good look, going top shelf in the right corner for the goal to give ART U the 1-0 lead. That held up to be the only goal of the game, as the ART U defense shut down the Sea Warriors, who had eight fouls in the second half. Rempe job got harder at the end of the game, as the Knights keeper had four saves in the last ten minutes, including one as time expired, to earn her fifth shutout of the year.

"Rachael had another fantastic game for us within the 18," said Nasypany. "She has her backline organized to limit the amount and type of shots she sees. However, every game, she makes a few clutch saves, that make you say wow that one was game changing."
Thursday's match was the sixth time that the Urban Knights have played in a 1-0 game in their 17 games. They have been been 3-3 in those matches. It also marked the third separate time this year that the Knights have posted back-to-back wins, and they have a very good chance of making it three straight against UH Hilo on Saturday.