There’s been no shortage of accomplishments for the Oly Town Artesians during the regular season. Among the slew of impressive feats, the club has set franchise benchmarks this year for wins, goals scored and fewest goals allowed.
With the postseason on the horizon, Oly Town is now focused on adding another achievement to its already record-setting list, posting its first ever win in the Western Indoor Soccer League playoffs.
The Artesians lost for the first time at The Evergreen State College Pavilion this year in its regular season home finale, losing, 8-4, to the four-time league champion Bellingham United on January 22. Despite the setback, Oly Town has already clinched a spot in the WISL playoffs with one road game remaining against the Portland Blacktails.
Oly Town will begin its push towards its first WISL title when it opens postseason play on Saturday, February 12. The league championship will be played on Saturday, February 19 with the winner clinching a berth into the national tournament.
“The community buy-in has been huge for us,” said Ryan Perkins, who bought the club in 2021 and formed an ownership group with Jason Smith and Matt Herrera. “I think the program has really progressed and developed over the years. I feel like we know what our strengths are, we know how to teach it and coach it. I also think word has got out that this soccer program is legitimate.”
Through 9 matches this season, Collin Tate, a Timberline High School graduate, leads the team with 10 goals. He is followed by Alex Vogt (8 goals), Jason Fairhurst (7) and Kasey Sidor (6). Capital graduate Jordan Zimmerman, along with Josh Dube and Jose Flores, have each scored three goals.
“I think our first year coach Nate Boatright has done a great job of bringing the players together, getting them to work hard,” said part-owner Jason Smith.
During its regular season finale, Oly Town, which held a 2-1 lead after one period against Bellingham United, received goals from Fairhurst, Nick Mejia, Asa Moncivias and Flores in the loss. The Artesians finished the regular season 4-1 at home, scoring a combined 40 goals to set a new record for home goals in a season by the club.
“We told the players before the season to come out here and make a difference, break records,” Perkins said. “From our perspective (as owners), being former players we are trying to make it special for the players here. This is their soccer home, this is our soccer family. We’re trying to build something special together and the players have done a great job.”
The Artesians won the first meeting against Portland at home, 12-8, on December 11. Fairhurst and Tate both registered hat tricks in the win over the Blacktails with Vogt adding two goals and Dylan Chavez, Zimmerman, Sidor and Dube each finding the back of the net once.
The Artesians (5-4) have already made history, becoming the first team in franchise history to finish a WISL season with a record at or above .500.
Despite making three postseason appearances since joining the league in 2015, Oly Town had yet to post a non-losing record in the previous six seasons until this year. They will now look to make club history in the playoffs with a victory.
The Artesians enter this year’s playoffs 0-3 all-time in WISL postseason. The team last advanced to the playoffs in 2020 as the No. 4 seed before losing to the top-seeded Tacoma Stars Reserves, 9-3, in the opening round. Additional postseason berths came in 2017 when No. 2 Oly Town lost to No. 3 Olympia Force, 8-3, and in the squad’s inaugural season of 2015 when the Artesians lost to No. 1 Tacoma Stars, 10-5.
“Kudos to the previous owners and our founder, Brandon sparks, for really putting us on the map. We came in with a good foundation. We’re lighting the fire this season and it’s really taken off,” Perkins said.
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