Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Lorraine Etchell)

San Francisco, CA -- At the beginning of the year, ART U women's soccer head coach Aileen Nasypany cited the last-second stunner by her male counterparts in the season opener against San Francisco State as a moment of inspiration for her and her team. The men scored their winner with 38 seconds left, but on Thursday against Bay Area rival Dominican, the women made it an even more thrilling finish, as Beth Barker scored the decider with only 13 seconds left on the clock to win 1-0.

The Urban Knights played yet another close game, as Thursday's match against the Lady Penguins was their sixth straight match decided by one goal. It was also a continuation of strong play against their opponents from the other side of the Golden Gate, as ART U and Dominican played three matches last year, ending in a pair of one-goal Urban Knights victories and a 1-1 tie. Academy of Art ran their unbeaten streak against Dominican to four games while also picking up their first conference victory.

"We've been working hard in our training on transitions, on keeping the ball under pressure and talking about not giving up until the last second," Nasypany said. "The ladies never gave up today and that's the result what happens when you work hard."

Both teams were evenly matched in the first half, as it was a defensive-minded match in the opening period. Each team had four shots and neither team had a corner kick. The Knights had their chances but were unable to convert, as Réa Laudat's shot early on was blocked only four minutes in. They had another great chance in the closing minutes of the half when Barker lobbed a ball over the back line of the Dominican defense to Louise Fillingham, but her shot was also saved by Penguins keeper Megan Herring and the two teams were scoreless in the first.

The aggressiveness escalated between these two rivals in the second half, as the offense on both sides picked up. ART U got its first shot of the second period less than three minutes in, as Giovanni Plater's attempt was punched out by the keeper. After each team put up the four shots in the first, they both exploded for shots in the second, as the Lady Penguins totaled 11 shots and the Knights had eight. Dominican got off a barrage of shots with under ten minutes to go, but Rachael Rempe continued her outstanding start to her ART U career with multiple saves under pressure.

But finally, after a half of virtually no set pieces, each team had four corner kicks in the second, culminating in the final action by the Knights. After last week, when they were pushing until the final horn and seemed to be wanting of a few more seconds, they were determined to get it in under the wire this time. With under three minutes to go, the Penguins got a corner kick from Jessica Ramirez, who lobbed it in for Alex Moran's fourth shot in ten minutes, but it went high and the Knights had a chance to counter.

"Games come down to set pieces," said Nasypany. "We've lost a couple close ones on corner kicks. We wanted to be efficient today. We were excellent on corner kicks defensively and we were very organized attacking. We made every chance count getting shots off, and to finish on the last one, I'm really proud of them."

After pushing down the field much like last week, Academy of Art was set up with a corner kick with under 20 seconds to go. Barker lined up for the kick and launched it toward a scrum of players in the box. Amid the confusion of trying to mark all of the ART U attackers, including Laudat and Makayla Hickman, the Penguins didn't account for Barker's kick, which curled in from her spot in the corner and crossed the plane of the goal for the deciding score. Just for good measure, the ball ricocheted off of Hickman and went into the back of the net to leave no doubt that the Knights secured the lead and the victory.

The Urban Knights are celebrating the wide reach of their soccer teams with Saturday's International Day against Holy Names. Sixteen different nations spanning three continents are represented on the ART U and HNU rosters, and they will be celebrated at the game at CCSF. Fan Buses to see both soccer teams: http://bit.ly/eC8mrO