OLYMPIA, Wash. – Daniel Gonzalez scored twice and tallied an assist in a 4-1 Oly Town Artesians victory over the Spokane Shadow on Saturday night at Black Hills High School. 18 year-old Kahlil Bredeson, making his debut for the Artesians, scored once and assisted one of Gonzalez’s goals to keep Oly Town undefeated.
It was the Gonzalez and Bredeson show midway through the first half with a pair of goals in the 23rd and 25th minutes. Bredeson sent a corner kick deep into the box that Gonzalez headed past Spokane keeper Luis Hernandez. Moments later, Gonzalez returned the favor sending a ball into Bredeson, who buried it to give the Artesians a 2-0 lead.
Oly kept the pressure on throughout the rest of the first half, with Sebastian Lyons just barely missing his first goal of the season when he hit the post in the 44th minute. He then got in the scorebook by sending a pass to Gonzalez, who finished for his second goal of the game just moments before the first half came to an end with the Artesians up 3-1.
Oly Town dominated possession throughout the first half and continued their high level of play into the second half. Christian Segovia played a fantastic game, weaving around Shadow players multiple times, and hit the post in the 70th minute. Six minutes later, Oly earned a penalty kick, but Hernandez made the save on a JT Meyer’s PK attempt to keep the score 3-0.
Spokane had a spark of life when they earned their own penalty kick and Devin Hauenstein put the shot past Artesians keeper JJ Olson to cut the lead to 3-1 in the 81st minute. It was just the fourth goal that the Artesians have given up in four games this season and three of those have been on penalty kicks.
The Shadow put on the pressure after their goal but the backline of Scott Penner, Marcos Borja, Collin Tate and Crisantos Chavez weathered the storm with aplomb. Segovia finally broke through and scored his third goal of the season in the 90th minute to give Oly a 4-1 lead, which held up and earned the Artesians to their second win.
The win moved Oly Town into first place in the Evergreen Premier League’s Coastal Division with eight points, two ahead of the Seattle Stars, who were idle on Saturday but will face the Tri-City Alliance on Sunday. The Artesians travel to Kent next Sunday to face the Stars in a huge division matchup.
The Artesians return home on Saturday, June 16th when they will face the Alliance. First kick is set for 6:00 PM at Black Hills High School.