DAVIS, CA — The Artesians fell 1-0 to the California Storm in the USL W League West Coast Semifinal Friday night. The #1 seeded Oly Town Artesians from the Northwest division was the sole team asked to travel to the western conference finals held in the Bay Area of California out of the 4 teams who qualified to compete for a USL national title run in the west.
Oly Town kicked off on Storm’s home field last Friday night in the Artesians first ever USL W League playoff appearance. #1 Oly Town FC, #2 San Francisco Glenns, #3 Oakland Soul and #4 California Soul all clinched a postseason from the west coast of the USL W League.
Head coach Chris Wells announced a plethora of division one college soccer players to play the semifinal at the Davis Soccer Complex which is outside of Oakland and San Francisco region. Leading scorer, Oregon State University forward McKenna Martinez and Penn State keeper Kat Asman played a strong match but were unable to fend off the Storm in a back and forth battle.
California Storm scored just after halftime off a set piece header that deflected into the back of the net. Oly Town had a series of point blank chances in the second half but either resulted in balls over the crossbar or Cal Storm goalkeeper delivering big saves for the #4 seeded home team. Kat Asman had three point blank breakaway saves that held Oly Town in the match.
Oly Town’s first loss caps off a remarkable first year in the USL W League after beating each team in the Northwest division including playing wild card bubble team United PDX three times and finishing 1-0-2 against them.
Oly Town made it to the final 16 teams in the nation led by Head Coach Chris Wells who is in his first year coaching at the USL W League level. The Artesians were also assisted by Rachel Ross who is in her second year with Oly Town but first in the USL.
Starters: Kat Asman, Abby Jacobs, Kayla Chatman-Haggerty, Kellyn Green, August Hunter, Emily Bunnell, Suzuka Yosue, Alex Schoenstadt, McKenna Martinez, Alexis Washington, Mariah Lee
Subs: Diera Walton, Kaitlyn Abrams, Kelsey Kwon, Ava Uribe, Emma Eddy, Rine Yonaha, Sophia Green
Staff: HC Chris Wells, AC Rachel Ross, GM Vanessa Crisp
7.7.23 USL W West Coast Semifinals | Photo Gallery
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