Oly Town FC ends season with close defeat at Bellingham, still gets playoff berth at fifth

Oly Town FC is just one goal away from returning to the Evergreen State College Pavilion for a dream home playoff match.

Needing a win to return to the Ice Box, the Artesians’ fourth-period comeback came short as they were beaten by Bellingham United, 6-5, and settled for the fifth spot in the final regular season matchday of the Western Indoor Soccer League held at the Bellingham Sportsplex last Saturday evening.

Despite the frustrating result, Oly Town’s fifth-place finish is still good enough for a chance to win all the marbles as they set up a playoff do-or-die match against #4 seed and division rivals South Sound FC, to which the winner could set a semifinal rematch with now second place Bellingham United FC.

With the playoffs standing on the line, the game lived up to expectations in the first half as both teams were aggressive in the play and opened a goal-fest that made it 3-3 at halftime.

With this toe-to-toe, the visiting Oly Town squad was stunned by three goals unanswered in the third period, started by a rocket of a free kick from Richard Henderson, which was followed by another goal by Henderson capitalizing a mistake from the backline, and the cherry on top is another mistake from a misread pass that turned into a counterattack finished by Kevin Flavin to make it 6-3 to the hosts, all three goals in a span of a six-minute hot streak.

Down with a three-goal hole by the end of the third period, Oly Town never gave up and was determined to bag the win that should propel them to second in the league standings and a dream scenario of a last dance in the Ice Box. 

.With Oly Town taking advantage of powerplays, it was skipper Nate Boatright who inspired the comeback as he floated the ball with a lovely cross that was met with a half-volley from Kasey Sidor blasting past the opposite keeper as the Artesians cut the lead to two with less than 10 minutes to go.

Rejuvenated with this, the Artesians maintained possession for most of the quarter as Bellingham became more reckless with the fouls and gave away powerplays and set pieces that the Artesians took advantage of, only to be denied again and again by this stingy Bellingham side.

A lifeline was given to Oly Town FC with two minutes left to play as a free kick taken by Boatright was tapped in by a barging Alan Barragan to make it a one-goal game at 2:25 left.

Nate Boatright

With the Artesians on the momentum, they threw all bodies on the attacking, including substituting off goalkeeper Isaiah Damschen for outfield player Colin Hauser to bolster their attacking chances with less than a minute to go, but alas – it’s too late as Bellingham survived the flurry of shots from this feisty Oly Town run of form at the clutch.

Despite missing out on the top two spots on the final day, Oly Town FC will still have their chins up as they finished 5^th in the league with 19 points from six wins, one draw, and three defeats – a similar record with 4^th place South Sound FC but just outranking due to Head-to-head record (that is, Oly Town lost and drew on the two games vs SSFC this season) despite having the better goal differential.

The Artesians have the chance to avenge that as they face the familiar cross-division rivals from St. Helens in a win-or-go-home match as the WISL playoffs kick off on Saturday, February 17^th at the Tacoma Soccer Center with expected kickoff time at 7:00 PM.