Artesians (almost) beat top seed Tacoma Stars Reserves, 5-5

Oly Town FC was just 17 seconds away from a glorious win over the mighty Tacoma Stars Reserves in the Western Indoor Soccer League, only to come up short after a crunch-time equalizer. The top two teams of the league shared the points and settled for a 5-5 draw in their first encounter this season at the Evergreen State College Pavilion Saturday evening, February 4.

It was a heartbreaker for the Artesians, who battled from being 3-1 down early in the first half to a well-deserved 5-4 lead through goals from Kasey Sidor (2), Jason Fairhurst (2), and Yuta Shimazu just before the final quarter, before the relentless Tacoma Stars Reserves, a Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) second team who came into the game having won all their previous matches this season, found a way to escape Olympia without losing thanks to Mark Lee’s goal from a scramble in the box at the death, retaining their unblemished record and most importantly the top spot.

The match lived up to the billing as arguably one of the best matches of the season by far, with just the two points separating both teams at the top of the table.

It started with a nervy opening salvo for both teams, as Oly Town couldn’t find a way to unlock the Tacoma Stars defense, which is key to their dominant campaign this season. Both teams locked horns early but ended goalless in the first 15 minutes of action, an unusual feat for the usually high-scoring Oly Town.

In a match where the stakes are really high, the small errors would make the difference., and this was harshly learned by the Artesians later on as they found themselves 0-2 down early in the second quarter, with the Tacoma Reserves taking advantage of some of Oly Town’s sloppy transitions to defense via counter-attack to take the two-goal advantage ten minutes before halftime.

After a tactical timeout called by Head Coach Nick Boatright while trailing two goals, it seems that Oly Town has adjusted and flexed their defensive muscles against the best in defense this season, thanks to big saves by Matt Stalnik between the gates and Collin Labranche leading on defensive duties up until the end of the match to stifle many of Tacoma’s opportunities.

“Collin is such a good defender” said Coach Nick Boatright. “I love his determination, whether it’s making a goal-saving tackle or defending 1v1 on the boards. I feel like I can always trust him.”

Down 1-3 at the closing minutes of the second period, Oly Town took advantage of a reckless and hard-fouling Tacoma side, as Jason Fairhurst scored twice, with his first goal coming from a Robben-esque right-footed goal from the left flank from a powerplay, and his second from the penalty spot after a handball call, closing the half at a 3-3 deadlock.

Growing more confidence and gaining the collective realization that they can go toe-to-toe with the unbeaten away side, Oly Town finally took the lead for the first time in the third quarter, thanks to Sidor’s second goal of the game, which came from a fantastic individual effort of taking on two defenders and splitting the rest of Tacoma Stars defense as if he’s Messi for a few seconds, and toe-poking the ball past the goalkeeper who reacted too late, as the Artesians got the well-deserved lead.

In the dying minutes of the third quarter, Tacoma equalized from a freak goal somewhat intended as a chipped pass from AJ Nitzel. But just a minute after, Yuta Shimazu, returning to arena soccer action after more than a month of sabbatical, scored after a scuffle in the box to regain the 5-4 lead back to Oly Town as time expired in the third period.

In the fourth quarter, only one strategy comes to mind for Oly Town FC – hold on to the one-goal lead for the last 15 minutes. The Artesians parked the bus and took all the relentless attacks of the league leaders, which now employed the goalkeeper as an extra outfield player to keep their possession intact, while the Artesians tried to hold out to what would have been first blood against the invincible Tacoma this season.

While giving all they could to defend their one-goal advantage, Oly Town FC tried to sneak in counterattacks by maximizing the space behind the line of defense to put salt on Tacoma’s wounds. The last clear-cut for that insurance goal was a counter spearheaded by the blistering pace of Manny Nicasio with under a minute left in play. As he crosses the ball to Alex Vogt, who was unmarked and forced into a one-on-one situation with the opposing keeper, he overpowers the tap-in and sends the ball shaking the crossbar as the Artesians continued to go for the kill.

A few seconds later, Tacoma brought the ball to the other end as they pushed one last time to cram the box, and scored the unfortunate equalizer at 17.3 seconds left in play, leaving a stunned crowd of Oly Town’s local supporters in disbelief to what they have witnessed. Oly Town failed to capitalize on their chances in the last seconds of the match before the final whistle was blown.

With this, the Tacoma Stars Reserves remained at the top of the table with a 8-0-1 win-loss-draw record, still two points clear of Oly Town FC (7-1-2 record), in a match that could be the best preview of the upcoming WISL playoffs.

Before the match, Willie Spurr, who played for Oly Town from 2014-2018, was inducted into the Oly Town Hall of Legends as one of the best Artesians to play the shirt in arena soccer. In his successful career in Olympia, he had 30 career goals.

The Artesians will host its final league game at home (at least before the playoffs) to challenge current fourth-place and playoff-candidate Bellingham United FC, wherein the reverse fixture ended a 6-6 draw at Bellingham in a game where Oly Town dominated ball possession. This match is on Saturday, February 11, with kickoff at 6 p.m.

Also featuring in the upcoming fixture is the induction of Kailey Utley, D-1 All-American and former player for Oly Town Artesians FC Women, to the Oly Town Hall of Legends as one of the best to wear the shirt. She is best known for her performance in the 2022 Northwest Premier League arena soccer, wherein she netted 25 goals in 8 games – the current club record for the most individual goals in a single season for all competitions.

Data and quotes courtesy of FC Olympia.