Submitted by Oly Town Artesians
The Oly Town Artesians wrapped up an undefeated regular season home slate on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory over Vancouver at Black Hills High School. Goals by Christian Segovia and Duvan Vaca-Trujillo built a 2-0 lead and then Bradley Hanson and the Artesians defense withstood a comeback attempt over the final ten minutes.
The game started out on a nervous note with Artesians goalkeeper JJ Olson suffering an injury on one of Vancouver’s first attacking attempts. Olson tried to play through the pain and stayed in goal long enough for Oly to take a 1-0 lead when Christian Segovia slotted a shot past Victory keeper Brady Cooper in the 12th minute. Olson was replaced by Bradley Hanson minutes later, and for the first time all season, someone other than Olson took over between the pipes. The Artesians defense took care of the backup Hanson by not allowing a shot on goal in the first half and just three shots on goal total.
In the 49th minute, Duvan Vaca-Trujillo fought through a Victory defender nearly ripping his jersey off and found himself in some space and scored his first goal as an Artesian. It proved to be the insurance goal that Oly Town needed. Joey Kenney cut the Oly lead to just one in the 74th minute but Hanson made two saves over the final 15 minutes to seal the deal.
Nigel El-Sokkary and Alvaro Licea were each credited with assists for the Artesians, who moved to 4-1-2 with 14 points – four points behind the Coastal Division leading Seattle Stars – and 4-0-1 at home this season.
Jake Brady assisted Vancouver’s lone goal, and the Victory fell to 3-4-0 with nine points, five behind the Artesians in the division. Despite the win, Oly remains a point behind the Victory in the Wild Card race and both fell behind Bellingham United, who won a non-division game against Tri-Cities on Saturday. The Wild Card is determined by each team’s six non-division games.
The Artesians turn around and head to Gig Harbor on Sunday for a HUGE non-division game against the Olympic Force. First kick at Roy Anderson Field at Peninsula High School is set for 5:30 p.m.
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