OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Oly Town Artesians will play their last league home game on Saturday night when they welcome Bellingham United to town. First kick at The Pavilion at The Evergreen State College is set for 6:35 PM. It is Wembley Soccer Shop Youth Soccer Night with kids in their youth soccer uniform receiving free admission and their parents admitted for $5. Kids will also have the opportunity to walk out with the players during introductions, be entered into a drawing to compete in the Olympia Jeep’s Artesians Rally at halftime, and much more. Tickets are available at the door and the Well 80 Brewhouse Beer Garden and will be serving fans that are 21 and over.
The Artesians are coming off of two straight draws – a 3-3 push against the Snohomish Skyhawks at The Pavilion two weeks ago and a 5-5 draw against Tacoma Narrows last week – and currently sit in fourth place with eight points, good enough for a playoff spot if they season ended today. But Oly Town faces their two toughest tests of the season over the final two weeks of the season including this week’s game against Bellingham United. The Artesians have never beaten the Hammers and fell to them, 8-1, at the Bellingham Sportsplex in December. Last season, Oly pushed United to the brink before Connor Moe scored the game winner with just 17.5 seconds left to give the Hammers a 5-4 win.
Oly Town is still led by Alec Zimmerman’s seven goals, but he is not expected to play. Collin Tate and Manny Nicasio trail him with five goals apiece while Nate Boatright and Christian Segovia each have four goals. All four are expected to play on Saturday. JJ Olson will get the start in goal again this week where he has a solid 5.78 goals against average and a 2-3-2 record this season.
Bellingham comes to town with three of the four leading scorers in the Western Indoor Soccer League. Nick Cashmere leads the league with 18 goals, although he has only scored once in the second half of the season, while Richard Henderson is third in the league with 13 goals and Eleazar Galvan is fourth with 12 goals. United leads the league with 83 goals scored this season and is second with just 29 goals allowed with a league high +54 goal differential. But they are 6-2-0 and in second place because of two losses to the league leading Tacoma Stars Reserves. Former Artesian Nate Salveson has started every game in goal after making the jump north from Tacoma Narrows just days before the season started.
For fans unable to make it to The Pavilion on Saturday, the game will be webcast on the Artesians Network. Like Oly Town FC on Facebook at FB.com/OlyTownFC to access the link to the webcast.