San Francisco, CA — Two goals in the second half Thursday from senior forward Louise Fillingham gave the Academy of Art University women's soccer team its first victory of the year and got the PacWest Conference season started off right, as the Urban Knights defeated Hawaii Pacific 2-1 at Crocker Amazon Park.
 
Fillingham struck in the 57th and 65th minutes with her second and third goals of the season to propel ART U (1-5-1, 1-0 PacWest) past the Sharks (3-2-1, 0-1 PacWest). The Knights' defense also stepped up in the game, nearly shutting out HPU despite playing with only 10 players on the field for the final 25 minutes.
 
Hawaii Pacific doubled up ART U in the shots category, 20-10, but only put six on goal. Senior goalkeeper Rachael Rempe made five saves and held a clean sheet for 89:11. That's when Erika Ellis took advantage of a loose ball that Rempe had already saved once off a shot from Ashlyn Ubongen, putting it on an open net to cut the Knights' lead in half.
 
It was too little too late however, as Fillingham had already notched the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goals earlier in the half. Both of Fillingham's goals were unassisted and came from relatively the same distance around the perimeter of the goalkeeper's box.

Fillingham's first strike came when she was gifted a loose ball in the box after HPU had defended well on a header attempt by senior Marley Sutter. The ball rolled to her feet and she shot straight on to beat Kelby Boswell and make it 1-0.
 
Her second score came eight minutes later when she again put a foot on a loose ball that came her way. This time Boswell came out to the edge of the box trying to clear the ball but missed. As the ball bounced towards Fillingham she lobbed a high-arching shot that landed just under the crossbar to make it 2-0 ART U.
 
The starting back line of Marissa Ramirez, Caina Field, Mariandrea Otero Molano and Sophie Meneses, as well as key defensive subs like Aly Morgan, Maddie Shelton and others, all combined for a strong defensive effort, especially after Field left with a red card in the 74th minute. Playing a man down, the Urban Knights still held HPU scoreless for more than 15 minutes before they finally scored.
 
Academy of Art next hosts Hawaii-Hilo at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at CCSF.