WISL Preview: Artesians host Force with season on the line

OLYMPIA, WA—The Oly Town Artesians face a must win on Saturday night when they face the Olympic Force at The Pavilion at Evergreen. The Artesians need a win in their last league home game to stay in the Western Indoor Soccer League playoff hunt. First kick on Toyota of Olympia Autograph Night is set for 6:30.

In the other WISL match of the weekend the Snohomish Skyhawks travel to Bellingham to face the first place Hammers at 7:30 PM at the Sportsplex.

Oly Town enters the contest at 1-5-0 with three points in league play this season with two games remaining. They need a victory on Saturday to remain in the hunt for one of the four WISL playoff spots and will need to finish the season strong in Bellingham on February 3rd.

The Artesians and Olympic have met once this season with the Force taking a 14-8 win at the Olympic Sports Center in Bremerton on December 9th. Christian Segovia recorded a hat trick in the loss. Oly Town dropped to 0-3-0 with 39 goals allowed, but since then, the Artesians have tightened up the defense and have allowed just 6.67 goals per game over their last three games.

Matt Stalnik leads the Artesians with six goals and Gabriele Zaccagnini trails him with five. Christian Segovia, Tonbra Akpobodor and JT Meyer each have scored five times. Brett Stallworth played in his 27th straight game. The defender from Tacoma now holds the team record with 27 appearances. Kyle Wiese previously held the record with 26.

Olympic sits in third place in the WISL, just three points ahead of the Artesians at 2-3-0 but with multiple tiebreakers in hand. Alex Hernandez leads the league in goals scored with 11 while Colin Ralston has nine goals and is coming off a four goal performance in their 6-3 road win over Snohomish last Saturday. Ralston and goalkeeper Lewis Watson swept the WISL Player of the Week Awards this week.

Saturday is Toyota of Olympia Autograph Night at The Pavilion. The first 150 fans through the gate will receive a team autograph card with an autograph session on the field following the game. Game time is set for 6:30 and gates open at 5:45. Advance tickets can be purchased at http://www.olytownfc.com/tickets.

Austin Kelley Awards Night presented by HDR Engineering is coming up on Saturday, January 27th. The Artesians will face off against the non-league Oly Legends in a tribute match honoring the memory of Austin Kelley. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Riann Kelley scholarship fund and all attendees will receive an AK memorial sticker.

Stay up to date with the Artesians all season long by visiting http://www.olytownfc.com, following them on Twitter at twitter.com/OlyTownFC, and liking them on Facebook at FB.com/OlyTownFC.