BREMERTON, Wash. – Collin Tate scored his sixth goal of the season but for the second straight week, the Oly Town Artesian kept the game nice and close in the first half before struggling in the second half to drop a double-digit loss, this week a 14-4 setback to the Oly-Pen Force. Luis Enrique Hidalgo scored five goals and Kyle Johnson added a hat trick to lead the way for the Force.
Johnson and Hidalgo got the scoring going with two goals in the first quarter and Bennett Bugbee added another but that is all that the Force could muster in the first half despite multiple mistakes by the Artesians in front of their own goal. Ryan Fakkema – a defender making his debut in goal for Oly Town following season ending injuries to Ryan Perkins and Bradley Hanson – kept the game close heading into the break.
But the dam burst in the third and the Force built a 6-0 lead before Esau Vazquez finally got the Artesians on the board with a half field shot off of the kickoff following Hidalgo’s second goal of the game. But the Force responded with three more goals in the third to take a 9-1 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
After the Force made it 10-1, Nate Boatright and Collin Tate scored back-to-back goals within a minute to make it 10-3. Chris Pugh added a beautiful header goal with 8:08 left but the Force kept pouring it and won their second game of the season, 14-4.
The Force improved to 2-3-0 and jumped from last place two weeks ago to third in the Western Indoor Soccer League with two straight wins. The Artesians dropped to 0-5-0 this season.
Oly Town takes a break for the holidays and will return to the pitch on Saturday, January 5th when they face the WISL leading Tacoma Stars Reserves in the first game of a doubleheader at the Tacoma Soccer Center. First kick is set for 6:00 PM.