Oly Town Artesians FC (Football Club) continued their absolute dominance in the 2022-2023 Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL), squeezing past a resolute Snohomish County FC’s defense to secure their second win of the season in the bag, 7-4, at their home grounds Evergreen State College Pavilion Saturday evening.
Trailing behind a goal at halftime and that deficit expanded by two goals from the visiting Steelheads, 3-1, just below six minutes from the start of the second half, and then a miraculous four-goal barrage in under five minutes saw the Artesians flip the script while keeping their opponents at bay up until the end, cruising to a two-game winning streak, sitting comfortably as solo leaders of the WISL table on Week 2.
“I was very impressed with the composure of our team to miss good looks in the first half and be down at halftime,” said Oly Town head coach Nick Boatright. “It was clear we had to be aggressive going into the second half, but sometimes when you try to go on the front foot and be aggressive, it ends up leading to poor decision-making but we had more players in positions for the second ball after the Snohomish keeper made saves.”
The coach highlighted the gritty stand of the Artesians in their biggest challenge of the season so far, especially that of the Oly goalkeeper Matt Stalnik, who, despite his shorter stature, stood gallantly to keep the Artesian defense stiff as the native Alaskan and Oly legend himself registered an astounding 39 saves throughout the match.
“Matt Stalnik made so many great saves between the sticks. They (Snohomish) were trying to take advantage of their height with the fly’s-up style long throw, but Matty was equal to the challenge every time.”
It was a tight first half, as both teams traded attempt after attempt under Olympia Indoor lights while shivering through the cold air inside the aptly nicknamed “Ice Box” Pavilion. Physical tackles, one-on-one battles, players shooting blanks, and brilliant reflex saves from the goalkeepers Stalnik and his counterpart, Trevor Davoren, were the name of the game in that half, which is of sheer contrast to the previous game hosted here, wherein 11 goals were shared just before halftime.
The tense goalless deadlock was then broken by the breakthrough, coming from Tyler Hopp of Sno County, as he took advantage of a scrap on the ball in the Oly Town backline, tapping the ball easily from a confused Oly Town backline to give the visitors the lead, up until the halftime whistle.
After a heavily-contested defensive second half, both teams went all guns blazing, with the Steelheads doubling their lead right at the start of the half with a low shot from distance from Daniel Amador. The Artesians found a lifeline with last week’s Player of the Week, Yuta Shimazu, bringing one back for Oly Town with a sweet left-footed curler. Still, the Steelheads quickly responded with a peach of a shot of their own from Carlos Rodriguez to make it 3-1, that’s three goals in the opening five minutes of the second half.
But just like last week’s game, it feels like Oly Town is comfortable and resilient in climbing up from deficits, however difficult it could be.
After a crucial timeout call midway through the third quarter, the Artesians seemed to have found their groove, starting with veteran Kasey Sidor cutting the deficit in half with a left-footed banger just near the keeper’s area. Manny Nicasio added his name to the scoresheet with another goal to tie the game. Later, Mitch Ballmer, an Everett State College alum, tapped in from a set piece to finally give the lead to the hosts, and with the cherry on top to end the perfect storm of a quarter – a direct free kick goal from captain Nick Boatright froze the goalkeeper as five goals from five different goal scorers, overturned the advantage to the hosts, 5-3.
The Oly Town defense kept the Steelheads in the rearview mirror as the latter desperately wanted a response after that third-quarter wrecking ball, counter-pressing to Oly Town, which led to a goal for Oly Town from Alec Zimmerman, making it more special as it was his return to indoor soccer from representing the Oly Town FC (outdoor) in USL League Two. Later near the rear end of the match, the Everett alum Ballmer added a second goal to his tally with a rampaging header to make it seventh heaven for the Artesians before a consolation goal for the Steelheads just a minute before the full-time whistle.
“His composure on the ball was so critical for us. When you have a player with his soccer IQ, you want to get him the touches. He needs to influence the game,” coach Boatright said regarding Alec Zimmerman.
The game was also made special as coach Boatright handed debuts to Jesus Flores and added prestige to Oly Town legend Brett Stallworth, who now has 52 Oly Town appearances since 2014.
Oly Town, after picking up two key home wins, is now on the road in a very odd scheduling snafu by the league until Saturday, January 14, 2023, as they head to Portland for next Saturday, November 19’s 2:30 p.m. kick-off at Indoor Goals in Beaverton, Oregon.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here