SAN FRANCISCO – Though Academy of Art men's soccer got off eight shots in the Pacific West Conference clash on Monday morning, ART U could not match a pair of goals that ultimately pushed Azusa Pacific to a 2-0 win.

While each side found potential scoring opportunities, it was the Cougars who nearly had the first tally in the opening minutes, threatening with a trio of looks on consecutive shots before junior forward Kristian Lonvig had the best look of the match thus far as he broke away from the APU defense for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Alexis Rodriguez held strong to make the save and keep the match level. Three more shots within minutes of one another came again out of the Cougars' offense, and APU took the lead on the sixth of the match as Brian Torres got one to go in the 29th minute after a rebound off a redshirt freshman goalkeeper Florian Grollmann save. The Knights would get off one more shot in the closing seconds of the opening frame, but freshman defender Tommy Huang's strike would fall off target. 

Looking to get back to an even match in the 53rd minute, junior forward Adrian Lechuga did his job to get around the goalkeeper and fire one on target, but an Azusa Pacific defender was there to guard the back line to maintain the squad's 1-0 lead. With sophomore midfielder Heath Nager striking the next shot on target in the match with a lob from deep, redshirt freshman forward Audie Garza would follow up with a shot of his own, but neither managed to find its way through. APU then went on to use the shots on their own net in their favor as Andrew Gomez went on to put his team up two after dribbling parallel to the Knights' net across the box and patiently waiting to find the top right corner.

ART U saw three additional shots in the final four minutes of the match with two from freshman midfielder Andrea Mercanti and another from a Adrian Lechuga header that required Rodriguez to make an immaculate diving save, but the Cougars disallowed a score to keep the shutout on the board with a 2-0 final.
 
Academy of Art concludes its 2024 campaign next Saturday, Nov. 9 after hosting a Senior Day ceremony prior, beginning at noon from CCSF Soccer Field.