OLYMPIA, Wash. – On Saturday, November 20th, The Artesians hosted their first match of the season against Oly-Pen Force. The Artesians came out strong and just four minutes into the game goals were scored by Alex Vogt and Kasey Sidor which built a 2-0 lead before Grant Larson from Oly-Pen made it 2-1 with just 3:12 left in the first quarter.
Oly-Pen fought to tie up the game in the second quarter. Not only were they successful in doing so, Oly-Pen fought hard and scored three goals in the first eight minutes of the second half, taking the lead for the first time in the game 4-2. In a power play, Collin Labranche capitalized and scored on a ball from Nick Meija.
Without skipping a beat, moments later Oly Town answered again with a goal from Mitchell Balmer with just three minutes left in the second quarter. Oly Town defended their goal during a power play and headed into halftime 4-4!
A defensive third quarter led to just one goal from each team. Oly-Pen scored first on a power play. Oly Town second, on a goal from Andreas Malunat. This concluded the quarter leaving both teams going into the fourth quarter 5-5.
Oly Town kicked off the fourth quarter with a goal from Kasey Sidor, his second of the night. Just seconds later, Brady Vernik from Oly-Pen smashed one in, keeping the game 6-6 with 9:13 left in the fourth.
Oly Town exploded for a pair of goals, one from goalkeeper Nate Salveson and one from Joshua Dube on a ball in from Salveson. This gave the Artesians an 8-6 lead with five minutes left in the game.
The game wasn’t over yet. With just over a minute left, Oly-Pen tied up the match 8-8! The game came down to the wire, but Nick Meija placed one into the back of the net with 30 seconds left in the game. Oly Town went up 9-8 and recorded their first win of the season.
The Artesians will look for their second win the weekend after Thanksgiving when they travel to Bellingham to play Bellingham United on Saturday, December 4th.
Oly Town Artesians goals: Alex Vogt, Kasey Sidor (2), Collin Labranche, Mitchell Balmer, Andreas Malunat, Nate Salveson, Joshua Dube, Nick Meija.