SPSL 4A Soccer: Olympia downs Bellarmine Prep in OT

3/30/2023

Olympia 2, Bellarmine Prep 1 (5-4 PK’s)

(Olympia, WA) The SPSL 4A is split into 2 divisions and Olympia in the south while Bellarmine Prep from the north. These teams only get 1 chance to play each other in league play and so it makes these matches even more important to gain an advantage in the overall final standings.

When the match began the Olympia Bears offense with strikers Jackson Wolter, Jake Murphy and Obi Bruce putting pressure on the Lions keeper Jayson Baldwin when in the 5th minute a defender took out an Olympia player in the box setting up a penalty kick. The Bear’s Calvin Boyal then knocked in the PK for a quick 1-0 lead.

The Bear attack continued and while they penetrated deep into Lion territory several times the B-Prep defense held up with their backline of Tate Carlson, Evan Janakievski and Dominic Vercillo with Baldwin to hold the Bears to just the 1 goal.

Bellarmine, state defending 4A Champions, then settled down their offense and began several counter attacks and worked the ball down into the teeth of the Bears defense but Olympia’s backline of Graysen Guy, Luke Phillips and keeper Mason Austin-Ruef denied the Lions up until the last few seconds of the half in stoppage time. Off a corner kick the Lions tied the match at 1-1 when Henry Marlow popped in the tying score off an assist from Jaggar Judkins.

In the 2nd half, both teams had opportunities but Olympia again with the possession time advantage but no one could break the tie through the 1st 25 minutes of the 2nd half. The intensity stepped up especially from the Olympia offense but again no one could finish off an attack. Obi Bruce fired up the crowd with a long kick in the 69th minute but it floated just high over the top of the cross bar.

In the final 10 minutes the scramble was on for both teams as the Bears kept up the pressure but the Lions having a great opportunity with about 3 minutes left to play only to be denied by Auston-Ruef and in the end neither team could find the game winner and it remained 1-1 at the end of regulation.

In most games in the SPSL 4A that would have been the end of the match but in the cross-divisional games where they face each other just once in the regular season all ties are resolved with a shoot-out. No golden goal OT’s straight to PK’s.

Bellarmine Prep would go first and the 2 teams going back and forth would be tied after 3 rounds with Jagger Judkins, Zak Kahn and Dane Price all scoring for the Lions while the Bears countered with Jonah Sutch, Calvin Boyle and Ryan Merchant all successful. In the 4th round, Olympia keeper Mason Austin-Ruef dove to his right and Bellarmine’s Henry Marlow also kicked to the right of Austin-Ruef who smothered the shot giving the Bears a chance to take a 4-3 lead. Rogan Wyatt did just that hammering the shot into the back of the net.

Olympia held a 4-3 lead going into the 5th and final round forcing the Lions Tate Carlson to score or the game would be over. Carlson lined it up and knocked it past Austin-Ruef to even the score at 4-4. Now all the Bears had to do was score on Lions keeper Jayson Baldwin to capture the win but Baldwin was up to the task and knocked out Ben Scott’s shot forcing an overtime to the overtime. Now it was whoever could score and while the other team doesn’t to win it.

Bellarmine Prep sent up Anthony Danylyuk but Austin-Ruef with his long body and arms were too much and he knocked the ball out giving Olympia a 2nd straight chance to win the game. Kolby Martin was called upon for the Bears and he did not disappoint hitting his shot into the back of the net and the Bears exploded in celebration.

Our MVP’s for the game went to Olympia’s Mason Austin-Ruef and Bellarmine Prep’s Jagger Judkins. Olympia improves to 4-1-1 overall and 3-1 in league play while Bellarmine Prep drops to 4-3-0 overall and 2-2-0 in league. The Bears will host Bethel on Saturday at 4pm and the Lions are at Sumner on April 4th at 7:30pm.