FRESNO, Calif. -- Despite junior midfielder Adrian Cekala scoring his first career goal, Academy of Art men's soccer team suffered its first PacWest loss of the 2018 season on Monday night, dropping a 4-1 decision to first place Fresno Pacific.

The Urban Knights claimed the first scoring opportunity in the sixth minute when freshman midfielder Edvard Edvarsson put a shot on goal that was saved by the keeper. Just three minutes later sophomore Jon Peregrina forced another save.

The scoreless tie was broken in the 13th by Jose Vargas who headed in his first goal of the season to put the Sunbirds up 1-0.   

The Urban Knights continued to battle and less than five minutes later junior midfielder Andrew Deans played a ball inside the box to Cekala, who turned and fired to the right post for the equalizer and his first career goal. Deans assist was also a first.

"I'm very happy for Adrian getting his first goal of the season," said head coach Alex Yi "It's something we wanted to figure out -- how to get Adrian more involved offensively."

"He works so hard for the team, I'm very pleased for him scoring his first of many goals for us."

The Urban Knights successfully fended off FPU attacks for 12 scoreless minutes until the Sunbirds offense proved difficult to hold.They added two more goals before the half was over, first in the 29th and again in the 38th.

The first place Sunbirds would notch one more goal in the 79th, though it could have been more if not for the efforts of sophomore goalkeeper Kris Jensson who collected six saves against a staggering 28 shots.

"He was outstanding in goal for us," said Yi. "He made three saves that shouldn't have been saved."

When the final whistle blew the scoreboard read: FPU 4, ART U 1.

"The boys put in a tremendous effort but Fresno Pacific was very difficult to defend for 90 minutes and ultimately showed their class," said Yi.

After the loss, Academy of Art falls to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play. The challenging road-trip continues with ART U facing off against Dominican in San Rafael Saturday, Sept. 22 at noon.