Kemennu’s Brace Leads Artesians to 3-1 Win in Yakima

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UNION GAP, Wash. – Tom Kemennu scored a pair of goals and Gabriele Zaccagnini chipped in two assists to lead the Oly Town Artesians to a 3-1 victory over Yakima United on a scorching Saturday night at SOZO Sports. Blake McMillian scored his second goal in the last two games and Ryan Perkins was solid in goal to lift the Artesians to fourth place in the Evergreen Premier League.

Both teams got off to a hot start and the game could have easily gone a different way if Alex Molchan’s shot in the third minute didn’t catch the post. Yakima United players could be heard celebrating the goal only to see it kick out at the last second. Just a minute later, Kemennu saw Yakima keeper Jacob Rhoads coming out to him on a breakaway and flicked it up and over to put the Artesians up 1-0 in the fifth minute.

Samuel Rodriguez evened the game up at 1-1 in the 42nd minute when he cleaned up a rebound off Perkins after a long shot. But Zaccagnini looked to put the Artesians up 2-1 moments later, but his excellent effort getting up after getting knocked down in the box and finishing was waved off after the ref called a handball. The game went to halftime tied up 1-1.

The Artesians looked like the heat was getting to them and Yakima was the aggressor early in the second half. But the Hoppers couldn’t cash in and Blake McMillian made them pay, scoring off of a corner kick from Zaccagnini for the second straight game to put Oly Town up 2-1 in the 63rd minute. Zaccagnini got credit for his second assist of the game and fifth of the season on a beautiful pass across the box that led Kemennu to his first brace for the Artesians.

Perkins made a handful of saves over the last 15 minutes and the Artesians defense stepped up to keep the Hoppers off the board and Oly won their second road game of the week, 3-1.

The win moved the Artesians to 4-4-1 with 13 points in their inaugural season in the EPLWA. They will travel to Gordon Field in Bremerton on Sunday, July 9th to face the Olympic Force and will return home to Wembley Field at The Evergreen State College two days later to face the Vancouver Victory on Tuesday, July 11th at 7:00 PM.