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JJ Olson

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Oly Town Artesians will open their 2019 Evergreen Premier League season on Saturday, May 4th, the first of five regular season home games to be played at Black Hills High School this season. In preparation for the upcoming outdoor season, the Artesians are hosting open tryouts on Saturday, March 16th and Sunday, March 17th at Black Hills.

May the 4th be with you! The Artesians kick off the season against the Seattle Stars on Star Wars Day and will be celebrating the day and start of the season all game long. The home slate continues Saturday, May 11th when Yakima United comes to town. The only Sunday home game of the season will be played on June 19th against Bellingham United. Then Oly Town will return home for their last two games starting with a matchup with Tri-Cities Alliance on Saturday, July 6th and wrapping up with a visit from PacNW FC on Saturday, July 13th.

Here is the Artesians’ full 2019 EPLWA regular season schedule. All times TBA:

Saturday, May 4 – vs. Seattle Stars – Black Hills HS
Sunday, May 5 – @ Bellingham United – Location: TBA
Saturday, May 11 – vs. Yakima United – Black Hills HS
Sunday, May 19 – @ Tri-Cities Alliance – Location: TBA
Sunday, June 9 – vs. Bellingham United – Black Hills HS
Saturday, June 15 – @ Oly-Pen Force – Location: TBA
Saturday, June 29 – @ Yakima United – Location: SOZO Sports
Sunday, June 30 – @ Seattle Stars – Location: TBA
Saturday, July 6 – vs. Tri-Cities Alliance – Black Hills HS
Saturday, July 13 – vs. PacNW FC – Black Hills HS

The EPLWA welcomes PacNW FC as the league’s tenth team. That means that the league will split into two conferences of five teams. Each team will play eight games against conference opponents (four home, four away) and two non-conference games (one home, one away). The names of the new conferences will be chosen in a Name The Conferences contest conducted by the EPLWA and the Artesians’ conference includes Bellingham United, the Seattle Stars, Tri-Cities Alliance and Yakima United. The top two teams in each conference make the playoffs.

The Artesians and Head Coach Matt Herrera will host Open Tryouts on Saturday, March 16th and March 17th on the turf at our lovely home field at Black Hills High School. Tryouts begin at 11:00 AM on both days and players are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes early for registration and warmup. There is no fee to tryout this season.

The team is finalizing their 2019 preseason schedule and will announce that soon. Stay up to date with the Artesians as they make more announcements heading into the 2019 Evergreen Premier League season by visiting www.olytownfc.com, following them on Twitter at twitter.com/OlyTownFC, and liking them on Facebook at FB.com/OlyTownFC.

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OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Oly Town Artesians celebrated the life of Austin Kelley with the local soccer community on Saturday night and posted a 13-8 friendly win over the Oly Legends. Three Artesians scored two goals apiece and Austin’s brother, Emmett Kelley, scored a hat trick for the Legends in front of a big crowd at The Pavilion at The Evergreen State College.

“It’s the most important night of the year,” said Artesians owner Tim Smith. “It’s a chance for the soccer community to remember Austin and for our club to recommit to who we are and the values we represent. Thank you to the Kelley family for being here, to HDR Inc. for their help in making this game happen, and to everybody that came out tonight.”

Sebastian Lyons, Nate Boatright and Collin Tate each recorded a brace for the Artesians squad and Eli Boatright, David Cook, Sasa Yodkerepauprai, Marcos Borja, Josh Dube and Mike Rancipher all chipped in with a goal. In addition to Emmett Kelley’s three goals, TJ O’Connor scored four times for the Legends and Collin LaBranche scored once.

That will wrap up the 2018-2019 Artesians indoor soccer season. Thank you to all the fans that came out, while the results on the field were not ideal, we had our best support and best crowds and had so much fun celebrating our fifth season. We now turn our focus to outdoor, with tryouts for the 2019 EPLWA squad coming up on March 16th and 17th at Black Hills High School.

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OLYMPIA, Wash. – Three Oly Town Artesians have been named to the first ever All-Western Indoor Soccer League teams, the league announced today. Nate Boatright was voted to the All-WISL First Team, Chris Pugh earned Second Team honors, and Collin Tate took home a Third Team nod.

Nate Boatright | Photo: Charis Wilson

Olympia native Nate Boatright was voted to the First Team by club operators and coaches because of his five goal, five assist season. The Evergreen State alum has been with the Artesians since the 2014-2015 inaugural season and provided solid, veteran leadership to a young and inexperienced Oly Town roster. A tough defender that also plays in the midfield, Nate teamed up with his 17 year-old brother Eli this season and scored on a Boatright to Boatright combination.

Chris Pugh | Photo: Charis Wilson

38 year-old Chris Pugh has been around the Artesians for many years but took time off due to injuries and for family but finally was able to play an entire season providing veteran leadership for the club. The tough forward scored seven goals, good enough for second on the team. Another Evergreen State product, Pugh was named Offensive Player Of The Week for his hat trick against the Oly-Pen Force on January 26th.

Collin Tate | Photo: Charis Wilson

In his first season of indoor soccer, Collin Tate led the Artesians with eight goals scored in nine games. Another Evergreen product, Tate played nine games after joining the club once the Geoducks’ season ended. The Timberline grad also chipped in three assists, none bigger than the one that he delivered to Eli Boatright that tied the game in the last minute of a 4-4 draw against the Snohomish Skyhawks.

Joining Boatright on the All-WISL First Team are Snohomish’s John Troka, Bellingham’s Richard Henderson, and three Tacoma Stars Reserves: Micah Wenzel, Danny Minniti and goalkeeper Mike Arguello. Former Artesians and current Tacoma Narrows FC players JC Henson and Nate Salveson were named to the Third Team.

Club operators and coaches nominated their own players for the All-WISL teams and then voted on opposing players to determine the first three teams.

The Artesians return to action Saturday night, February 23rd, for one last game when they take on the Oly Legends on Austin Kelley Night. The friendly is Olympia’s celebration of soccer, in honor of our friend and teammate Austin Kelley. First kick is set for 6:30 with doors opening at 5:45.

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