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Oni Mayer wins a header | Photo: Jo Arlow

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Oly Town Artesians wrap up the home slate of their inaugural outdoor season on Sunday, July 23rd when Tacoma’s Washington Premier South Sound FC comes to town. First kick between these two teams who are separated by just one point in the Evergreen Premier League standings is set for 3:00 PM at Wembley Soccer Shop Field at The Evergreen State College.

Advanced tickets are just $6 and can be purchased at www.olytownfc.com/tickets, and all youth soccer players in uniform will be admitted for free and can accompany the Artesians onto the field during introductions. Pregame festivities start at 2:55. Tickets at the gate are $8 for adults and $5 for kids 5-12 years old.

The Artesians enter the final two games of their first season in the EPLWA sitting at 4-5-3 overall with 15 points, just one point behind South Sound (5-5-1, 16 points). The Shock will take on the first place Seattle Stars on Saturday before making the trip to Olympia on Sunday. The Artesians and South Sound will then wrap up their seasons one week later with a rematch in Puyallup.

Oly Town is led by goalkeeper JJ Olson, who is tied for second in the EPLWA with two shutouts and has logged 889 minutes over 10 games this season. JT Meyer leads the team with three goals while Kyle Witzel has two goals since joining the club three games ago. Gabriele Zaccagnini racked up six assists before heading to Europe last week.

South Sound FC are a charter member of the EPLWA playing in their fourth season in the league and have been through an up and down 2017 campaign. They absolutely drilled the Stars 5-1 on May 7th, but have suffered losses to Olympic, Yakima and Spokane this season but are coming off of a 2-1 win over Vancouver last weekend. Isidro Prado-Huerto leads all Shock scorers with three goals.

This weekend’s game marks the first time that three Olympia brothers will take the field together. Jake Zimmerman, a senior at Evergreen, and Alec Zimmerman, a senior at Capital High School, have each logged major minutes for their hometown team and Jake’s goal in Bellingham led the Artesians to their first league victory. Meanwhile, their brother Jordan Zimmerman, a junior at Evergreen, has scored one goal in his time with South Sound despite spending the preseason with the Artesians. Jordan scored the first ever outdoor goal for Oly Town in a friendly against the Washington State Club Soccer team on April 1st.

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It was one of the most physical games of the season and Oly Town FC was up to the task of keeping EPLWA goal king Tyler Bjork off of the board. Unfortunately, despite numerous opportunities, the Artesians could not break through and an early goal by Aty Taylor held up in a 2-0 Seattle Stars win on Saturday night at The Evergreen State College.

Jo Arlow was on hand and delivered a HUGE photo gallery. Thanks Jo! Check our her other work here.

The Artesians play their last home game of the season on Sunday, July 23rd at 3:00 PM against Washington Premier South Sound FC. Tickets are on sale now for just $6 in advance and kids in their youth soccer uniforms get in free. Purchase discounted tickets here.

Click here to see the full gallery

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Oni Mayer on Defense

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The first place Seattle Stars scored a fifth minute goal and a stoppage time goal near the end of the game to knock off the Oly Town Artesians 2-0 on Saturday evening at Wembley Field at The Evergreen State College.

Aty Taylor scored the opening and what proved to be the game winning goal for the Stars on a bicycle kick from an Artesians clearance gone awry. Tyler Bjork got a piece of the clearance and was credited with an assist on a shot that happened to find the perfect angle through a seam in the Oly defense.

Bjork, the league leader in goals with 13 and scored four goals in the previous meeting between the Stars and Artesians, was held scoreless and was forced to leave the game for most of the second half with an injury. He returned to the game late, but could not get on the board thanks to a fantastic game by Oly Town center backs Collin LaBranche and Brett Stallworth. Oni Mayer also had a nice game from the back line including a handful of crosses into the box on offense that kept the Stars on their heels throughout the contest.

The Artesians came out of the gates aggressively and outshot the Stars in the first half and had more shots on goal in the second half. The two teams traded shots throughout the physical but fast paced game, but Stars keeper Carlos Rodriguez made four saves to post his third clean sheet of the season. Miles Sanchez scored the insurance goal late into stoppage time to seal the victory for Seattle.

Oly Town dropped to 4-5-3 with 15 points in their inaugural season in the Evergreen Premier League. Meanwhile, Seattle retook first place in the EPLWA after Bellingham United took the lead with a 3-2 win over Spokane earlier on Saturday.

The Artesians will look to finish strong with their home finale on Sunday, July 23rd. First kick against Washington Premier South Sound FC at The Evergreen State College is set for 3:00 PM. Sunday’s game is Fan Appreciation night and all youth soccer players in uniform will be admitted for free and will be invited onto the field for introductions with the teams.