Box Score

Hilo, HI – It was a difficult result to face Thursday evening as Academy of Art University was topped by UH Hilo 1-0 at UHH Baseball Field. Facing one penalty kick in each half, the Urban Knights defended the first, but allowed the second in the 52nd minute and ended up taking the Pacific West Conference loss despite a valiant effort on the day.

"On a long road trip like this, all the games are tough and unfortunately we didn't get the result today," head coach Mike Keller said. "Physically, the guys gave a huge effort as always, but we couldn't find that final touch or bounce."

The first crucial moment came early on as an Academy of Art foul in the eighth minute set up a penalty kick for UHH's James Yamane. Despite the prime scoring opportunity, Yamane's attempt was saved by Joshua Leader and the match remained scoreless.

Kristof Urbanyi had the first chance to score for ART U in the 13th minute, but his shot was stopped by UHH keeper Yonha Andrabi. Urbanyi would later nearly connect in the 26th minute only to see his attempt deflect off the goal post. In the final 15 minutes, William "Willy" Velasco Villa put up a pair of shots that Andrabi prevented from reaching net.

Scoreless at halftime, the matched moved into the second period where Thorvaldur "Thobbi" Sveinsson got things started with a shot that sailed high in the 50th minute. Not another shot was taken until the 52nd minute when another Urban Knights foul enabled Zachary Solarte to attempt a penalty kick. This time, he connected and gave UH Hilo its 1-0 advantage.

Leader would remain unfazed by the goal and continued to make important saves for Academy of Art. However, despite three corner kicks by Urbanyi in a five-minute window down the stretch, the Knights could not find the back of the net and the Vulcans came away with a 1-0 victory.

ART U sits at 8-5-3 overall and 5-3-2 in PacWest play. Velasco Villa had two shots on goal while Urbanyi had one and Leader finished with five saves plus the goal allowed in 90 minutes.

Hilo was led to a 6-7-1 overall record (4-6-1 in PacWest) by Solarte's lone goal. Defensively, Andrabi finished with three saves and the shutout.

The conclusion of ART U's Hawaii roadtrip comes this Saturday, Nov. 2 back on the island of Oahu where the Knights take on Hawaii Pacific beginning at 3:00 PM HT (6:00 PM PT) at Atherton Field.

"We're are looking forward to the last game of the trip with a tough HPU team and we'll be looking to play our best to end what has been a great trip for the team," Coach Keller said.