USL2: Oly Town FC battered 5-0 by division leaders Ballard FC

Oly Town FC’s winning streak ended last Friday as they were humiliated by an undefeated Ballard FC away from home, 5-0, as the lads suffered a hiccup on their USL2 campaign at Interbay Stadium, with the Seattle-based club lead by a hat trick from Alex Mejia.

It was a gallant effort for the visiting Artesians, who just can’t contain the league leaders in the defensive end and could not maximize the counter-attack opportunities given to them.

Oly Town defense led by goalkeeper Dante Perez worked overtime to save a respectable scoreline despite the loss.

The first goal of the match day was from a header from Alex Mejia in the 9^th minute, receiving the ball from a free kick set piece from Danny Robles after what seems to be a handball call against Oly Town’s Manny Nicasio, giving the perfect start for the hosts.

Oly Town FC concedes its 4th goal of the game after this blunder on the chip from the goalkeeper.

Hungry for more goals, the hosts tried to quickly put the game to bed, dominating possession of the ball in the middle and final third and peppering goal attempts to test the Oly Town FC defense, that somehow the Artesians outlasted, albeit suffering from foul trouble that gave away set piece opportunities for Ballard.

This risky park-the-bus strategy backfired for Oly Town as a penalty was called in favor of Ballard, after a late tackle in the box by Camron Miller. It was then converted by Stas Korzeniowski, who also was the man brought down in the box, to double their lead as halftime approached.

As a response to that sloppy first half, Oly Town was gifted an opportunity early in the second half as a bad back pass from Ballard landed to a sprinting Gil de la Luz but just couldn’t score as the shot was saved by Lars Helleren before it ricochets back to de la Luz for a goal kick in what could have been the best goalscoring chance for Oly Town the whole match.

After that wasted chance, it was a battle on the midfield as both teams wrestled to get possession in the middle third, with Oly Town relying on their defense against a more organized and compact Ballard setup.

Giving everything they could in the second half, the knockout punch was served to Oly Town in the 75^th minute after an intercepted pass from Federico Russo gave way to a Ballard counterattack to which Mejia finished to make it 3-0 for Ballard, game set and done.

A gassed-out Oly Town FC tried to at least get a consolation goal back against a team who has, so far, never conceded a goal at home after five matches, but the composed backline of Ballard was just too good to intercept all attempts to set up the last of Oly Town’s attack plays.

Gil de la Luz of Oly Town FC intercepts a bad pass from Ballard and shoots, but just couldn’t convert.

Despite the lead, Ballard still continued to punish the mistakes of Oly Town FC in the buildup of play and the defense up until the end. The fourth goal from Ballard came off a chipped header from substitute Cameron Yriondo in the 85^th to which the Oly Town goalkeeper miscalculated the save, while the final goal was from Alex Mejia in the 90^th, collecting the ball from a bad throw-in from Jack Sluys, to complete his hat trick.

With their only two defeats so far this season coming from Ballard FC, it seems that Oly Town is still struggling to cross the bridge and close the gap between the two, with this defeat setting a six-point difference on the top of the table race in the Northwest Division.

The Artesians will try to come back to their winning ways on June 11^th back at home against Lane United.