OLYMPIA, Wash. – Chris Pugh scored a hat trick and Christian Segovia added two goals, but after clawing back to within two early in the fourth quarter, the Oly Town Artesians couldn’t get over the hump and fell to the Oly-Pen Force, 12-7, in front of a big Wembley Soccer Shop Youth Soccer Night crowd at The Pavilion at The Evergreen State College.
Collin Tate got the Artesians off on the right foot, opening the scoring early in the first quarter, but Colin Ralston tied it up, 1-1, about two minutes later, sparking a four goal first quarter for the Force and a seven goal run into the third quarter. David Meherg scored twice during the run that put them up 7-1 with 7:39 left in the third.
The Artesians fought back, starting with a goal by Sasa Yodkerepauprai at the 6:57 mark of the third, Pugh’s first with five minutes left in the third, and then a three goal run over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter that cut the Force lead to two, 8-6, with 12:53 left. Segovia opened the scoring in the fourth with a goal just 30 seconds in, and then Pugh added another 30 seconds later. Segovia scored his second just over a minute later to get the crowd rocking and give them hope for a massive Artesians comeback.
But the Force stopped the bleeding on an Alex Hernandez strike with 11:56 left and then took control with a power play goal by Zurfluh after a controversial blue card was issued to Oly Town. The frustrated Artesians let the Force extended their lead to 12-6 with two more goals before Pugh scored his third with just 49 seconds left. The Force finished it off and took home a 12-7 victory.
The win moved the Force to 3-5-1 this season and into fourth place in the Western Indoor Soccer League with one game left to play. The top four teams in the league make the playoffs.
The Artesians dropped to 0-8-1 and will host Bellingham United next Saturday in their season finale. First kick at The Pavilion is set for 6:30.
Oly Town Artesians goals: Chris Pugh (3), Christian Segovia (2), Collin Tate, Sasa Yodkerepauprai
Oly-Pen Force goals: Jaisen Zurfluh (2), Colin Ralston (2), Alex Hernandez (2), Greg Wolfe (2), David Meherg (2), Joe Sammartino, George Bundy