Oly Town FC returns to winning ways after steamrolling Vancouver Lightning, 7-1

After a stunning defeat away from home against South Sound FC, Oly Town bounced back to beat division rivals Vancouver Lightning in a 7-1 beatdown, braving the freezing conditions to reignite their league title hunt at the Clark County Indoor Sports Center in Vancouver last Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Jesus Flores led the scorers for the Artesians with a Man of the Match (MOTM) performance with two goals and two assists for the visitors in a game that also highlighted the return of Oly Town captain Nate Boatright after a few games out of the squad.

It was a slow start for Oly Town as they tried to figure out how to weave upon the hosts' high press, while managing to thwart counterattacks and set pieces thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Isaiah Damschen.

The Artesians finally broke the ice at less than four minutes left of the opening salvo as Marco Flores received Jesus Flores' cheeky backheel pass from a loose ball with a tap in past the Vancouver keeper for the opening goal.

Oly Town squad huddles up.

The lead was then doubled more than a minute later after Flores had a goal of his own, finishing a lovely low cross delivered by returning captain Boatright to make it 2-0 at the end of the opener.

Since then, Oly Town never looked back as they peppered shots against the struggling Vancouver, who desperately resorted to bad fouls to get even, with goals in the second period coming from a brace from Alan Barragan and another goal for Boatright to make it 5-0 at halftime while Flores and Brice Holiday added to make it 7-0 before the final quarter.

It was only in the final quarter that Vancouver Lightning got one goal back from the effort of Samuel Ezeri.

The Artesians will return home for their final regular season match in the Evergreen State Pavilion for a grudge match against division rival South Sound FC on January 27 at 6:00 p.m. kickoff.

South Sound FC is tied with Oly Town in the St. Helens division standings with a similar 6-2-0 win-loss-draw record, with the Artesians just leading through goal difference, despite losing to them last week 6-2 away.