Submitted by Oly Town Artesians
The Oly Town Artesians came up short in a pair of thrilling week one games, dropping Saturday’s home game 3-2 to the Seattle Stars and then suffered a 2-1 loss in stoppage time in Bellingham on Sunday. It was two close games to open the season that just barely slipped through the Artesians fingers.
In Saturday’s game at Black Hills High School, the Seattle Stars struck first with a goal by Aty Taylor just before the end of the first half. Christian Segovia equalized for the Artesians in the 52nd minute with a shot from just inside the box past Stars keeper Andrew Morrison. But just moments later, Andrei Marina found received a pass and slipped past the Artesians defense to slot another past JJ Olson to take a 2-1 lead. Quinn Fahling put the Stars up 3-1 in the 72nd minute and the Stars weathered the Artesians attack, despite allowing a goal to Geovanny Vazquez in stoppage time to take the 3-2 victory.
Game two of the weekend took the Artesians up to Bellingham on Sunday evening. The two teams played to a scoreless first half despite the Artesians holding the majority of possession while the Hammers had the more dangerous chances. But United flipped the script early in the second half and Eleazar Galvan broke the tie in the 65th minute to give the Hammers a 1-0 lead. Oly tied the game in the 83rd minute when Surafel Wodajo popped a shot up and over the closing Bellingham keeper, Hector Gutierrez.
But in stoppage time, Bellingham took advantage of the Artesians on the counter-attack and Olegario Orozco found some space and drove one past Olson to score what would prove to be the game winner. United held off Oly’s heavy attack after the goal during an extended stoppage time but would hold on in their season opener for the 3-2 win.
The Artesians will look to regroup on Saturday, May 11 when they host Yakima United on Wembley Soccer Shop Youth Soccer Night at Black Hills High School. All youth soccer players in their uniform will get in for free thanks to Wembley. First kick is set for 6:00 PM and kids in uniform are invited to show up early and walk out with the players during introductions. Tickets for adults are $8 and youth, military and seniors get in for $5. Tickets are available now by visiting www.olytownfc.com/tickets.
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