OLYMPIA, Wash. – Surafel Wodajo scored his second goal of the season in the 15th minute but the Oly Town Artesians couldn’t find another goal and Missael Lopez scored the equalizer and the eventual game winner in the second half to lead Yakima United to a 4-1 victory at Black Hills High School on Saturday night.
The Artesians took the quick lead in the 15th minute when a Geovanny Vazquez shot bounced away from Yakima keeper Luis Birrueta and Wodajo pounced on the rebound and fired a shot that found the lower right corner to make it 1-0. Despite many more Oly chances, the first 45 minutes came to a close with just the one goal.
Oly Town controlled the flow of the game for the first 60+ minutes but Missael Lopez received a beautiful through ball from Williams Pineda and beat JJ Olson to equalize in the 66th minute. 11 minutes later, Lopez waltzed into an open spot in the defense and fired from 30 yards out into the lower left corner to make it 2-1. From there, it was all Yakima. Pineda picked off a pass and scored in the 81st and Johnny Ramirez took advantage of a demoralized Oly defense to score an easy insurance goal in the 83rd that gave the Hoppers the 4-1 victory.
With the win, Yakima remains unbeaten on the season at 1-0-1 and are currently in first place in the Cascade Conference. They return home and will face defending league champion Washington Premier at 5:00 tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Artesians fell to a shocking 0-3-0 and will have to figure out what went wrong before their trip to Pasco next Sunday to take on the Tri-Cities Alliance. First kick at Edgar Brown Stadium is at 2:00.
The Artesians return home next on Sunday June 2nd for a Washington Super Cup game before hosting their next EPLWA home game when Bellingham United visits Olympia on Sunday, June 9th. Tickets are available at www.olytownfc.com/tickets.