HILO, Hawaii – Academy of Art took an early lead on sophomore midfielder Gilli Kristjansson's first goal of the season, but the Vulcans equalized in the second half before winning the match 2-1 on a penalty kick in the final minute of Thursday night's season finale. 

"Tonight our boys did everything coach Danny Kirkland, coach Matthew Favela and I asked of them," said head coach Matt Martin. "They were resolute, we came in and absorbed for a few minutes and then went about dominating UH Hilo in most of the individual battles the rest of the first half. A great goal from Gilli and we were dominant not only leading up to that moment but for 20 minutes after, carrying over to the start of the second half when Adrian Cekala hit the crossbar and Breki Einarsson nearly cashed in on the rebound."

The Knights had a good amount of opportunities, as five different players put shots on target. Senior forward Andrew Deans led the pack with two shots on frame while four other Urban Knights also pressured the Vulcans goalkeeper. Kristjansson scored his goal in the 36th minute to give the Urban Knights a 1-0 lead. ART U played solid defense the entire first half and kept the Vulcans scoreless to go into halftime with the lead. In his return to the pitch, junior goalkeeper Kris Jensson did his part to keep UHH off the board, recording four saves in the first half alone. 

The Urban Knights kept up the stellar defense for the first 20 minutes of the second period, but the Vulcans finally broke through in the 66th minute. A free kick just outside the box ricocheted off the keeper directly to Kalei Tolentino-Perry, who finished to the back left corner of the net to tie the match 1-1. The match was tightly contested as the teams battled back and forth until it came to the crux of the match in the 90th minute. The Vulcans were awarded a penalty kick with less than 20 seconds on the clock. Jorge Martinez took the shot and buried it in the back of the net. With such little time on the clock it was too late for ART U to launch a quick retaliation, forcing them to drop a 2-1 heart-breaker. 

"I cannot say enough about the contributions of the three seniors in this game," said Martin. "Working on both sides of the ball, forcing turnovers, and unbalancing Hilo. Zak Kiser with hold up play, Isiah Quiros finding space on the flank and linking in transition, and Deans absolutely wrecking their build up and turning balls win into counters. With our players having to come off to rotate and recover from knocks we started to defend more and UHH had a game plan and eventually got us with their determination to send players through on goal."

As the 2019 season concludes, Academy of Art looks ahead to an off-season of development and hard work in preparation for next year.