Submitted by Oly Town Artesians
Daniele Zaccagnini scored his second goal of the season on a penalty kick in added time, but the Olympic Force (3-1-1, 10 points) held off the Oly Town Artesians (2-2-1, 7 points) comeback attempt to take a 2-1 win on Saturday afternoon at The Evergreen State College.
The Force wasted no time getting going taking advantage of a misplay by the Artesians backline in the eighth minute to make the score 1-0. Colin Ralston gathered a pass from Bennett Bugbee and had a clear look at the goal and punched it into the top right corner past the diving Artesians goalkeeper. The score line would hold until late in the game when another uncharacteristic defensive mistake led to Bugbee scoring his third goal of the season, putting Olympic up 2-0 in the 81st minute.
But the Artesians picked up the pressure over the final ten minutes until they earned themselves a penalty kick after a foul in the box. Daniele Zaccagnini stepped up and fired it past Olympic goalkeeper Jordan Hadden to make it a one goal game in stoppage time. Oly had two more good chances, including a free kick into the box that found the head of an Artesians attacker but squirted just left of the keeper just before the final whistle sounded.
Ryan Perkins performed admirably in his first start in goal for the Artesians, making three saves in relief of the out-of-town JJ Olson. Lewis Watson kept a clean sheet in the first half for the Force before Hadden took over for the final 45 minutes.
Oly Town fell to 2-2-1 on the season and remain at seven points, three points behind the Olympic Force, who now sit in second place with 10 points. The Artesians hit the road for the next month starting with a trip to Spokane on Sunday, June 11th to take on the Shadow at the Spokane Polo Grounds at 2:00 PM. The next home game is on Tuesday, July 11th against the Vancouver Victory.
Keep up to date with the Artesians all season long by visiting www.olytownfc.com, following them on Twitter at twitter.com/OlyTownFC, and liking them on Facebook at FB.com/OlyTownFC.
