SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art fought hard and held possession for the majority of the match, but Missouri St. Louis came away with a 3-0 win in Friday afternoon's season opener at Paul Goode Field.

"We created three very good opportunities to score in the game," said head coach Matt Martin. "We gave them two of their goal scoring moments, so the math is easy, this game could have been close. UMSL traveled a long way and showed discipline and quality and fully deserved the win. We need to take our chances better and not give away chances."

The first shot of the new season came off the foot of junior defender Mykal Mason in the 17 minute. Senior forward Adrian Cekala ran onto a perfectly placed through ball then weaved by a pair of Triton defenders to set up Mason for an opportunity at goal. The Triton goalkeeper dove to his left and the ball was out of reach, but the shot went just wide of the goal. 

UMSL struck in the 39th minute on a set piece after a foul in the middle of ART U's side of the field. The ball was served into a crowd of players in the middle of the box and ricocheted between a few of them. Finally it looked like an ART U defender had managed a clearance, but a Triton attacker was positioned perfectly and volleyed a shot past junior goalkeeper Kris Jensson for a 1-0 advantage. 

Academy of Art had a another valuable opportunity in the 44th minute, when a foul in the Triton's box gave the Knights a penalty kick. ART U's 2018 points and goals leader Cekala was called upon. The keeper dove left and the ball went right, but it was inches wide of the post. ART U went into halftime trailing 1-0. 

UMSL found the net again in the 66th minute for a 2-0 lead on a counterattack created by a through ball that split the Urban Knight defenders. Jensson was forced to meet the attacker at the top of the box but the Triton forward got to the ball first and put it in the net. UMSL scored their last goal in the 85th minute to make the final score 3-0 and give ART U their first loss. 

Cekala ended the game with a team leading three shots, while sophomore forward Fannar Omarsson had two. Jensson collected three saves on the day and nine different Urban Knights played all 90 minutes. ART U also held possession for 55 percent of the match. 

"The job for us is to figure out exactly what we could do better, work on the mental side of it between now and the next game, and physically get ready for another opportunity to show improvement and play the way we want to play," said Martin. 

Academy of Art will look to do just that in their next match on Sunday night versus Stanislaus State in Turlock, Calif. starting at 7 p.m.