Oly Town Artesians short on the comeback, handed first loss of the season

The magical unbeaten streak of the Oly Town Artesians FC in the 22-23 Washington Inland Soccer League (WISL) season came to a heartbreaking end Saturday evening, after league newcomers Everett City FC handed their first defeat of the season, 8-6, at the Everett Soccer Arena.

After a stinker of a first half where the Artesians conceded seven goals, Oly Town picked themselves back up to keep it close, with coach Nick Boatright making wise halftime changes to lead the second-half comeback, including three goals unanswered in the third quarter, just to come short in the end.

“What I like about this team is the togetherness of the group; we all know the mentality wasn’t there in the first half, but we came together and fixed it; unfortunately, we ran out of time,” said Boatright post-game.

The Artesians traveled to Everett with a depleted squad, with a string of injuries hitting vital squad players such as Manny Nicasio, Collin Tate, Sebastian Lyons, and Marcos Borja all out of the traveling squad.

The absence of these vital players was really felt right in the first half, with a barrage of goals shocking the already shaky Oly Town defense. Peter Kingston led the home side’s goalscoring efforts with a hat trick in the first half, as the unheralded Everett City FC, whom last week lost 7-0 against the Tacoma Stars Reserves, find themselves leading at halftime, 7-1, with the only Artesians goal coming from Kasey Sidor.

Boatright made the vital second-half changes at halftime, including bringing out Week 2 Player of the Match Matt Stalnik to be replaced by Isaiah Damschen in goal. These decisions proved vital for Oly Town FC as they initiated the comeback response with three unanswered goals from Mitchell Balmer, Alex Vogt, and a second goal from Sidor to keep the team in the game, 4-7, as the final quarter starts.

The vital last quarter was a gripping scene for the Artesians, as a second goal from Vogt and another from Jesus Flores put Oly Town on the brink of a crazy comeback. Still, it came just short, with the insurance goal for Everett coming from Cristiano Whitaker to hand the first Artesian loss of the season.

Oly Town slips to second place in the WISL table, with last year’s champions, Tacoma Stars Reserves, replacing them on top, but with a game in hand.

Oly Town’s next WISL match is away from home against Bellingham United on December 10th, 7:30 p.m. at the Bellingham Sportsplex.