TUMWATER, WA—In spite of massive heart and grit from the Boys in Blue, Vancouver Victory fall to the Oly Town Artesians 2-1 under a cool grey sky on Saturday June 30, 2018. “We didn’t get the results that we expected.” says V2FC player Wendell Coetice. “I feel like the boys grinded, we worked very hard today. It is unlucky that we went two goals behind but we got one back and got some momentum and I think we could have scored a few more but it just wasn’t our day today. But the boys worked hard and I think we deserved a better result.”

Head Coach Logan Emory stated, “If you take away those two goals, I was very happy with the way we played. I was very happy with the way fought and scrapped. The thing that I was most pleased with was our ability to play a little ugly. To understand that we are losing by two goals and the field is too small to open up and find a lot of space to break lines so at times we are going to have to go over the top to try and win the first and if not the second and then go from there and I think that is something that we have been missing a little bit; is trying to get out of the idea of trying to play pretty and trying to play the right way. Credit to our guys for buying into it. I was very happy with the group.”

The game chessmatched for a bit where both teams were testing and prodding all over the field, but the Artesians broke through at the 10th minute where Olytown’s Nigel El-Sokkary lasered the ball to Christian Segovia who shored it up to out run his defender to right boot the ball into the right side of the net with aplomb. In the 49th minute, Olytown’s Duvan Vaca-Trujillo received a long ball from Alvaro Licea and earned another blaster, putting the Aresians up, 2-0.

Our Vancouver Victory warriored on, though the score line to this point did not reflect their deeds of heart and grit that should go down in their own personal legend to carry them strong through the rest of the season. V2FC’s Jake Brady was raining crosses and one eventually found the cool right boot of Mr. Kenney who slotted it to the right of the Olytown keeper. Kenney stated that, “Jake had been putting in a lot of good balls and he put in a good one and Tyson and TJ went up for it, it bounced straight up, the defenders weren’t sure where it went and luckily it came right to me and I managed to take a good touch and put it on frame.” And still the Victory fought on. Tyson Fox was an axe swinging beast there at the end, muscling in a shot that force a diving save and another that went tall.

Jerrett of the V2FC stated, “I thought we played very well. I think we should have come out with a better result but I think the team played really well. It was the first game where I got a lot of minutes so I am happy about that. I was just happy to get out there and platy well and have everyone play well together.”

Though it will go down in the record books as a loss; in retrospect, it should feel like an upswing to the Boys in Blue. They fought for each other, they fought with heart, and it has me excited about the rest of the season. In particular, we get to meet Olytown at home on July 15th to make up for the cancellation due to lightning and I suspect that both teams are going to come in with something of a warrior’s grudge.

Coach Emory stated, “They are a very good team, very well coached and it was a pleasure being up here. The surface was good, it feels a little small, but it’s perfect conditions today on a very good field. And our guys showed up and we haven’t done that on the road most of the time so I am very very happy with the over-all performance. I thought we started well. I thought throughout the game we played well.”