Submitted by Oly Town Artesians
After a successful regular season, the Oly Town Artesians play host to Pacific Northwest Soccer Club on Friday, July 16 at 8 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Evergreen Premier League playoffs. It is the first time that the Artesians have hosted a playoff game since joining the league in 2017. Tickets for the clash are just $8 for adults, $5 for kids, seniors and military and can be purchased at the gate at Black Hills High School. The winner of Friday’s game will face either Everett or Tacoma Narrows in the semifinals on Sunday.
The Artesians finished the regular season with a 3-2-1 and tied on points with Tacoma Narrows with 10. But Tacoma’s 3-0 win gave them the tiebreaker in the standings, so the Artesians are the #2 team out of the EPLWA’s South Division and will face the #3 team from the North, PacNW. Oly is led by Evergreen State product Max Hauser’s three goals and two assists this season. Six other players have each scored one goal apiece. Olympia High School alum and Northwest Nazarene goalkeeper Sawyer Price has started all six league games and sports a 1.22 goals against average in his second year with the Artesians.
Oly Town will have to stop the EPLWA’s all-time leading scorer and 2021 Golden Boot winner, Tyler Bjork. The longtime league veteran scored six goals this season for an otherwise young, but talented PacNW squad that went 2-3-1 in the North. Just two other players scored goals for them this season with two Saint Mary’s University Gaels, Tyler Hardin and Andrew Rotter, rounding out the scoring with two goals each. Cam Welty recorded one shutout in goal for the Tukwila based club.
Super Cup Semifinals Recap: The Artesians took a 2-0 lead at The Southwest Athletic Complex in West Seattle on Wednesday night but Sporting International roared back with three straight goals to advance to the Washington State Super Cup Finals with a 3-2 victory.
Joe DiCarlo opened the scoring after a foul by Sporting just outside of the box in the 13th minute. DiCarlo’s free kick was perfectly placed and Oly took a 1-0 lead. Alec Zimmerman then made it a 2-0 lead after a throw in from Max Hauser found him on the right side with a lot of room to work with and he fired a shot past the goalkeeper in the 35th minute.
Oly’s bend-but-don’t-break defense seemed to be cruising along until the very last play of the first half when Sporting struck to cut the lead to one. After the break, Sporting seemed to flip a switch and dominated possession for the final 45 cashing in on the equalizing goal in the 55th minute and the game winner in the 75th to send them to the finals where they will face Washington Premier.
Stay up to date with the 2021 men’s and women’s outdoor seasons by visiting the Oly Town Artesians website, following them on Twitter, and liking them on Facebook.
