by Owen Cameros
After beating Tacoma 3-2 on June 16th, West Seattle settled in for their first extended break of the season. Ten days later West Seattle returned to action heading to the capital of Washington to face of against FC Olympia.
Olympia struggled during the early part of the season, but championed a reasonably solid home record with two wins, a loss and a draw. It’s home, South Sound Stadium, is also one of the narrowest pitches in the Northwest Division. All this to say, despite sitting in second to last place, the hosts would not provide Junction with an easy return to football.
Both teams traded blows in the opening few minutes. Leon Tezuka broke free just 75 seconds into the match, but dragged his shot well wide of goalkeeper Jackson Ozburn’s left post. Moments later Olympia found the back of the net with Tyler Allred’s cross connecting with Lennard Fock, who finished the ball home past Lucas Martin. However, Fock was a few steps offside on the cross and the assistant referee dashed Olympia’s hopes of an early lead.
After the 15 minute mark, the match grinded to a halt. The midfield was too congested for either team to really generate much offense, and the match would head into the break knotted at zeros.
The second half, on the other hand, began with fireworks and finished with explosions. Jacen Stein got the second half rolling, scoring his fourth goal of the season in the 51st minute. Damoni McKenna’s throw-in was momentarily cleared before Leon Tezuka flicked the ball back into the danger zone and a scramble ensued. Stein was first to the ball at the back post and found the top corner, with West Seattle taking a 1-0 lead just after the break.
Ten minutes later, Chad Sovde equalized for Olympia. Silvestre Vallejo looped a ball towards the box, and while the initial cross was dealt with, the ball fell kindly to Jack Civitts who played Sovde in on goal and the winger finished his chance tiddly into the bottom corner.
FC Olympia found their footing after Sovde’s equalizer. For the next twenty five minutes the best chances came at the hosts end, with Lucas Martin coming up big on numerous occasions, including a diving block to deny the goal.
With just minutes left in the second half, Chad Sovde raced after an over the top pass colliding with Lucas Martin just inside the box, sending both players crashing to the turf. The referee determined Junction’s goalkeeper initiated the contact and gave Olympia a chance to win the match, from 12 yards away. Martin stared Jack Civitts down unfazed by his attempted stutter step. When the Olympia midfielder struck his penalty, Martin dove to his right, getting a strong right hand on the ball, pushing it past his post and out for a corner.
West Seattle and Olympia split the points at South Sound Stadium, with Junction FC moving into second place and a playoff position for the first since May 24th.
As of June 28th, Junction FC sits in 2nd place with 15 points, one point ahead of United PDX. Portland has two games in hand on West Seattle and will host the newcomers on Saturday June 29th in an all important match that could decide which club gets into the 2024 USL Playoffs.