The Artesians knocked off the Tri-Cities Alliance on Saturday, July 6th thanks to two goals by Jason Fairhurst and another by Christian Segovia. Sonja Purtteman was on hand to photograph the game and delivered this photo gallery.
She was also on hand for the Artesians Reserves game against JBLM FC a couple hours before. You can see that gallery on our Facebook page.
OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Oly Town Artesians 2019 outdoor season came to an end this weekend with two losses, a 3-0 loss to Nido Aguila Club America Seattle in the final of the Washington State Super Cup, and then a 5-0 loss to PacNW SC in the final Evergreen Premier League game of the season.
After a nice run to get to the final including a 7-0 win over the ISC Gunners and a hard fought 1-0 win over the Grays Harbor Gulls, the Artesians found themselves in a massive 2-0 hole less than five minutes into the game because of two defensive miscues that Nido forward Casey Woodruff cleaned up and scored on.
Oly Town had an opportunity to cut Nido’s lead to just one midway through the first half, but Nido keeper Nate Salveson made a save on a penalty kick by Collin Tate to keep it a two goal game. In the second half, Jason Fairhurst fought through fouls and physical play and nearly scored but his shot ricocheted off of the crossbar, post, Salveson and an Artesians player without somehow crossing the goal line. Nido added a goal a little while later and coasted to the 3-0 victory and claim the first Super Cup.
The Artesians hoped for some redemption on Saturday with PacNW SC in town, but the game quickly became the Tyler Bjork show. The EPLWA’s all time leading scorer made mincemeat of the Oly defense scoring three times in the first half to increase his 2019 total to 11 goals and his career total to 65. Jasper Malamud scored twice in the second half and the PacNW defense allowed just one weak shot on goal all game and won handily. They improved to 6-2-1 in their first season in the EPLWA and claimed the #2 seed out of the Rainer Conference.
Meanwhile, an Oly Town season that started with high hopes and anticipation that turned into a season of transition and discovery came to an end at 3-7-0, the team’s worst finish since joining the EPLWA in 2017.
The Artesians now set their sights on their 2019-2020 Western Indoor Soccer League season set to begin in November. Stay tuned to www.olytownfc.com, our Facebook page or Twitter page for updates.
OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Oly Town Artesians play for a trophy on Friday night and then wrap up their 2019 season at home on Saturday in a huge weekend of soccer for Olympia’s soccer club. Additionally, Artesians forward Jason Fairhurst was named the Evergreen Premier League’s Offensive Player Of The Week for his two goal effort in week 8.
The weekend gets underway on Friday night when the Artesians travel to the Washington Premier Soccer Complex to face Nido Aguila Club America Seattle in the inaugural championship game of the Washington State Super Cup. First kick is set for 7:00 PM and tickets are $5 at the gate.
In the first season of this new cup for elite men’s amateur soccer teams in Washington, the Artesians knocked off the ISC Gunners 7-0 and Grays Harbor 2-1 to advance to the Final. Nido Aguila beat PacNW in penalty kicks and then beat Kirkland FC 2-1 in the semifinals. They feature former Artesian coach Nate Salveson in goal and are still in a position for the Western Washington Premier League title.
Then on Saturday, the Artesians host PacNW SC in the season finale. First kick at Black Hills High School is set for 6:00 PM and tickets are just $8 for adults and $5 for kids 5-12, military and seniors.
Oly Town enters the game at 3-6-0 this season and has been eliminated from the playoff chase but can play spoiler with PacNW needing a win to clinch a playoff spot. PacNW features a couple of professional indoor soccer players with the Tacoma Stars in Cory Keitz and Vince McCluskey and are led by the current league leader in goals scored both this season and in a career, Tyler Bjork. Bjork has 62 regular season goals with three different teams: Bellingham United, Seattle Stars and now PacNW SC.
The Artesians are led by Jason Fairhurst, who was voted Evergreen Premier League Offensive Player Of The Week for his two goal performance against Tri-Cities in last Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Alliance. The Snohomish native and Saint Martin’s junior has been outstanding this season tallying three goals in league play and two in Super Cup games while also setting up numerous opportunities for his teammates. Fairhurst is expected to be active for both games this weekend.
If fans cannot make it to the games this weekend, they will be livestreamed on the Artesians’ Facebook page with Brandon Sparks on the call. Visit FB.com/OlyTownFC to watch.
Stay up to date with the Artesians as they head into the offseason and prepare for the Western Indoor Soccer League season by visiting www.olytownfc.com, following them on Twitter at twitter.com/OlyTownFC, and liking them on Facebook at FB.com/OlyTownFC.
