OLYMPIA, WA – Oly Town traveled to the town of Snohomish, Washington last Saturday in Week 10 Western Indoor Soccer League play. The last meeting in Olympia had a large second half showing from the Artesians and subsequent win. The Snohomish Steelheads have been middle of the pack for most of the 2022-23 season meanwhile the Artesians gracing the top two spots since the start of league play. Oly Town skipper Nick Boatright helming one of the most successful arena campaigns in club history.
The Artesians jumped out to an early commanding two-goal lead seeing Mitchell Balmer and Rainier Schlekewey find the back of the net. Isaiah Damschen starting in goal blanked Snohomish for the entire first period with some amazing reaction, deflection saves and a few finger tip, diving stops. The Artesian defense also saw some hard nose blocks from Josh Dube and Schlekewey as Snohomish had several attempts on goal but many not finding their way due to Artesian defensive positioning.
Oly Town would go into half with a 4-1 lead as Steelhead Andrew Escalante was able to get Snohomish on the board midway through the second period.
Loud eruptions came from the upper deck for four Artesian second half goals with over 40 fans making the trek to Snohomish, many from Oly’s Jason Fairhurst’s family and friends to celebrate his record setting performance in a previous match. Oly Town goals were met with huge “Oly, Oly, Oly” chants ringing around the Snohomish Sports Dome making the away game very much feel like a “home” environment.
Damschen and the defense continued to thwart the Steelhead offense only giving up one goal in the second half to Snohomish veteran Bryan Fakkema. Countless attacks either ended in well timed defensive blocks or big paw-like saves from Isaiah Damschen. The two goals against stat will go down as one of the best goalkeeping and defensive showings in Oly Town Arena history.
The win puts Oly Town squarely into second place in the WISL table behind Major Arena Soccer League second team the Tacoma Stars Reserves.
The two clubs meet for the first time this Saturday, February 4th in a showdown at the Pavilion at Evergreen State College. 6PM is the slated kickoff time and will feature Oly Legend Willie Spurr who will be inducted to the Oly Town Hall of Legends. Spurr set many records for Oly Town including 30 career goals and 14 single season goals between 2014-2018. The records stood for years and in 2023 were starting to be challenged and some records broken. Willie Spurr would go on to play professional arena soccer for the Ontario Fury (now Empire Strykers) and Tacoma Stars.
Oly Town also will welcome the South Mason Youth Soccer families, OlyDog serving hot food along with Well 80 and Dancing Goats Coffee serving up an array of beverages.
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Match Statistics:
Isaiah Damschen (60 minutes, 2 GA)
Joe Sammartino (2 Goals, 1 Assist)
Mitchell Balmer (2 Goals)
Manny Nicasio (1 Goal, 1 Assist)
Alec Zimmerman (1 Goal, 1 Assist)
Rainier Schlekewey (1 Goal)
Kasey Sidor (1 Goal)
Alex Vogt (1 Assist)
Photo Gallery by Jordan Edgcomb
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