Oly Town back to winning ways, thumps Oly Pen Force again, 11-6

After getting only one point in a possible six in their last two matches of the Western Indoor Soccer League, the Oly Town Artesians FC finally got a win after besting a distraught Olympic Peninsula Force, scoring 11-6, while away from home at the Bremerton Sports Center Saturday afternoon, December 17.

It was a game full of notable offensive performances from various Artesians, with Kasey Sidor leading the goalscoring tally for Oly Town with a hat trick, opening the scoring in the first quarter and finishing the second and third goals in the final quarter. At the same time, Manny Nicasio and Collin Tate added two goals each for the team.

But it was the goalkeeper and Oly Town legend Matt Stalnik who held a defensive masterclass between the gates to keep the Artesians at bay as he got the Man of the Match award for his performance.

“Matt [Stalnik] made many important saves, including one off his chin. He was a part of a man-down team that killed four man-down situations. His leadership was crucial to our win.” said gaffer Nick Boatright.

This is also a special game for Oly Town captain Collin Tate as his two-goal effort in this match is enough for him to reach a career record of 32 arena soccer goals, surpassing that of Willie Spurr (30 goals), a remarkable feat for the Artesian skipper who started his indoor soccer career in Oly Town in 2018 and continues to be an attacking threat.

Similar to the reverse fixture, wherein Oly Town won 17-7 at home, it was a tense first half as Sidor’s opener was the only goal in the first quarter. Collin Tate opened the scoring in the second quarter, but a response from Oly-Pen, thanks to a goal from Austin Nation, made it 2-1, before two goals from Manny Nicasio and another from Jason Fairhurst made it 5-2 Oly Town lead at halftime.

Oly-Pen Force tried to stop the bleeding in the second half as Brandt Kelley scored for the home side less than a minute in the third, making it 5-3. But it was not good enough for a rampant Oly Town that put them out of their misery, with goals from Josh Dube, Sidor (x2), Tate, TR Jewett, and Brett Stallworth completing the win for Oly Town FC’s last competitive arena soccer match for 2022.

Oly Town now stands on top of the table with 13 points (4-1-1 W-D-L record), jumping above the former leaders Tacoma Stars Reserves with 12, but with two games in hand.

After the Christmas break, the Oly Town Artesians will finally return home at the Evergreen State College Pavilion after four away games, as they square off with the Portland Blacktails, who oddly forfeited their game last Saturday, January 14, 2023, Saturday at 6:00 p.m. kickoff.