Concordia Irvine Athletics

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - On the second game of five straight CUI men's soccer road games, the Eagles sent a message to the PacWest Conference that they are here to play. The Green and Gold took a 4-1 victory over the Academy of Art Urban Knights.

In the first half of action both teams looked to gain an early edge. The backline for Concordia refused to let that happen. Brett Lux, Michael Oakson, Alfonso Quezada, and Elijah Amadin battled all night to keep the Knights in the distance.

In the 29th minute, Erick Correa and Amadin hooked up for their first one-two punch of the season. Amadin found his teammate in scoring position and Correa found the net giving the Eagles the 1-0 lead. 

Academy of Art, also known as ARTU, would not be discouraged by the early goal and ramped up its offensive play putting pressure on CUI senior keeper Ricardo Medina.  The Knights had a couple of shot attempts at the end of the half but Medina proved to be ready for the moment and earned a save on both attempts. Medina ended the game with four saves and only one goal allowed on 11 shot attempts from the Knights.

To open up second half action, CUI got on the board early and never looked back. Nick Aquino found Amadin on a cross right outside of the box that was powered in for a goal in the 46th minute for another Concordia score, expanding the margin to 2-0.

Less than three minutes later, Eagles midfielder Vicente Flores found the net for another Green and Gold score, the first of the season for Flores. From then on, the game was solidified for the Irvine squad.

With the score 3-0 and plenty of time remaining, Eagles leading goal scorer Bryan Lopez got in on the action and found the net after finding the open space to extend the lead to 4-0. The goal by Lopez was the fifth on the season and tied him with teammate Caley Powers with ten overall points in their 2019 campaign.

As the game was ending, the Green and Gold fouled the Knights which resulted in a penalty kick that gave ARTU its first goal of the night. With little time remaining, ARTU fought hard but ran out of time, ending the game 4-1 in favor of Concordia.

"It was a great performance by the team today," said Amadin. "We came out hungry in the second half and the score showed it. I am proud of my brothers and their hard work."

CUI has opened up PacWest Conference play with back-to-back wins and will look to continue the momentum on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Holy Names University at 1:30 pm.

For the full schedule of the Concordia men's soccer team, click here.