OLYMPIA, Wash. – After Oly Town’s Max Hauser tied the game 2-2 in stoppage time of the second half on a penalty kick, the Artesian men’s season came to an end when PacNW buried all their shots from the spot to pick up the Evergreen Premier League quarterfinals win. Thomas Nguyen scored the game winning spot kick for PacNW after a miss in the sixth round by the Artesians. Max Hauser scored once and added an assist and was successful in his spot kick in the loss.
The Artesians opened the scoring in the fifth minute of the game when Alec Zimmerman poked a rolling ball past PacNW keeper Charlie Lanphier off of a pass from Max Hauser to make it 1-0. Oly Town held most of the possession in the first half and had numerous opportunities to extend their lead but were unable to get an insurance goal. PacNW picked up the pace near the end of the half and for the second straight game, the Artesians allowed a goal on the very last play of the first half. Andrew Rotter tied the score 1-1 off of a pass from Sean Russell and the half came to an end on the touch of the restart all knotted up at one goal apiece.
The EPLWA’s all-time leading scorer made his presence felt in the 60th minute when he struck a rebound that looked to be cleared off the line by Oly’s Marcos Santos, but the ball was ruled to have gone over the line and PacNW took a 2-1 lead with 30 minutes to play. The #3 seed from the North had a number of chances to put the game away including a Bjork strike just minutes later that struck the crossbar and barely stayed out, but down by just one, Oly picked up the pace late in the game and well into stoppage time, PacNW was called for a handball in the box and the Artesians were given a penalty kick. Hauser buried the equalizer and the two teams were all tied up after a dramatic 90 minutes of play.
The game went immediately to kicks from the spot to settle the tie, and with Oly Town kicking first and Cam Welty in at goal for PacNW, Hauser stepped up and scored the first penalty kick. PacNW’s Tyler Hardin took their first PK and made it, and the two teams traded goals for the first five rounds of kicks. In the sixth and sudden death round, Santos missed his kick to the right and then Thomas Nguyen stepped up and buried his kick past Oly keeper Sawyer Price to win the game and advance to the EPLWA semifinals.
The Artesians men’s season came to an end after five wins and one draw across 10 EPLWA and Washington State Super Cup games. The club has one more outdoor game to play this season as the women will travel to Newberg, Oregon to face AC Chehalem Valley in a friendly on Saturday, July 24th.
GOALS: ‘5 – Alec Zimmerman (Max Hauser) – Oly Town, ’45+ – Andrew Rotter (Sean Russell) – PacNW, ’60 – Tyler Bjork – PacNW, 90+ – Max Hauser (PK) – Oly Town
PENALTY KICKS:
Oly Town: Max Hauser (Goal), Allen Escalante (Goal), Craig Johnson (Goal), Joe DiCarlo (Goal), Jake Zimmerman (Goal), Marcos Santos (Miss)
PacNW: Tyler Hardin (Goal), Marcos Figueroa (Goal), Sean Sent (Goal), Mark River (Goal), Tyler Bjork (Goal), Thomas Nguyen (Goal)
DISCIPLINE: Leo Burney (PacNW) – Yellow
LINEUP: 1 – Sawyer Price (GK), 2 – Manny Nicasio, 4 – Marcos Santos, 5 – Jake Zimmerman, 6 – Sammy Taffola (’70), 8 – Allen Escalante, 9 – Trevor Thompson, 10 – Alec Zimmerman (’77), 11 – Jason Fairhurst (’63), 16 – Collin LaBranche, 17 – Max Hauser
SUBS: 3 – Dakota Seddon, 7 – Connor Desmond, 12 – Joe DiCarlo (’77), 14 – Craig Johnson (’63), 18 – Carlos Rodriguez (’70)