EPLWA Round-Up - May 14

Yakima and former league-leader South Sound battled to 2-2 draw last weekend

In Week 3 of the Evergreen Premier League season, the winless streak for home teams came to an end with Vancouver Victory downing Bellingham to move to 3-0-0, but it was the only one as the three others finished in two draws and a loss. Last year's top two sides, Spokane and South Sound, both finished even with their opposition.

This week, two of the three eastern-based sides are set to square off in this week's matches with Wenatchee playing host to Yakima Sunday afternoon. Spokane, meanwhile, will welcome the unbeaten Victory Saturday evening.

WEEK 3 RECAP

Saturday, May 9

South Sound 2 :: 2 Yakima United

Esquivel (L) celebrates

The Hoppers snared an unexpected point, but were in position to register a full upset in the match having built a two-goal lead and having a man advantage only to see the Shock rally to tie things up.

Some excellent build-up from Hector Valdovinos on the left side finished with Junior Garcia delivering a cross that Jesse Esquivel put away for the opening goal 20 minutes in. With seven minutes to go in the half, a bad tackle from Cody Guthrie saw him sent off. Then just before the intermission, the trio combined again for the second goal. This time a throw-in from Garcia was flicked on by Valdovinos, finding the head of Esquivel for his second of the night.

The Shock kept things alive in the second half and grabbed new hope on a corner kick in the 67th when Eli Peterson knocked home the restart from JJ Schmeck. Another corner with three minutes left cost the Hoppers two points when it was not cleared. The ball came to Brandon Blanks inside the area and he delivered the dagger, disappointing the 662 on hand.

Scoring Summary - SS: Eli Peterson (JJ Schmeck) 67, Brandon Blanks 87; YAK: Jesse Esquivel (Junior Garcia) 20, Esquivel (Hector Valdovinos) 38
Goalkeepers - SS: NA; YAK: Antonio Gonzalez
Location - Marquette Stadium (Yakima); Attendance: 662

Seattle Stars 1 :: 1 Spokane Shadow

Sam Engle (C) surrounded by Stars

The match was a story of two completely different halves and a pair of teams that were difficult to break down. The Shadow had the better of play in the first half and were able to turn their chances into a penalty 32 minutes in. But, the visiting Stars raised the pressure in the second half and were able to find an equalizer with 13 minutes left, earning some redemption from their last visit to Spokane in which they arrived with just nine players on the final weekend of the season. INWsn Full Report [+]

Scoring Summary - SEA: Leo Matsuda 78; SPO: Sam Engle (pen) 32
Goalkeepers - SEA: Scott Barnum; SPO: Jeff Srock
Location - Spokane Falls CC Stadium (Spokane); Attendance: 350

Sunday, May 10

Wenatchee FC 4 :: 1 Olympic Force

In a meeting of two winless sides, Wenatchee controlled matters from the very beginning on the peninsula and Eleazar Galvan had a fantastic night, recording the league's first hat-trick of the season. Eduardo Perez kicked it off with a through ball three minutes in that put the visitors in front. Then he doubled the advantage at the 10-minute mark when he stole the ball and drove into the area before firing into the far post.

Galvan gave the Capitals a commanding advantage in the 22nd minute when he beat a defender on the left flank and beat the keeper near post with his shot. The hosts broke the momentum a bit with four minutes left in the half when Izzy Deluna knocked a loose ball home. It looked like the rest of the match was going to go scoreless, but in the first minute of stoppage time Galvan added an assist to his ledger for the night, making a run up the field and connecting with Matheus Correa to add an exclamation point on their first win of the year.

Scoring Summary - WEN: Eleazar Galvan (Eduardo Perez) 3, Galvan 10, Galvan 22, Matheus Correa (Galvan) 91+; OLY: Izzy Deluna 41
Goalkeepers - WEN: NA; OLY: NA
Location - Gordon Field (Bremerton); Attendance: 163

Bellingham United 1 :: 4 Vancouver Victory

The Hammers took the initial lead in the 20th minute, but Victory took things to the break on even terms with a penalty kick in the 35th minute converted by Timur Zhividze, his third tally of the year. Vancouver took the lead six minutes into the second half when Zhividze put Mikhail Doholis through for the go-ahead goal. From there, they added to the lead. Kumar Prince's free kick in the 68th caromed in off the defensive wall and a volley by Alex Segovia on a ball from Doholis made it 4-1 in the 77th. The result, combined with South Sound's draw, put Vancouver all alone in first.

Scoring Summary - BEL: Tyler Bjork 20; VAN: Timur Zhividze (pen) ???, Mkhail Doholis (Zhividze) 51, Kemar Prince 68, Alex Segovia (Doholis) 77
Goalkeepers - BEL: Riley Liddle; VAN: Arne Niermann
Location - McKenzie Stadium (Vancouver); Attendance: 360

INWsn's THREE STARS IN EPLWA

Mikhail Doholis (Vancouver Victory) :: Scored the go-ahead goal and set up the insurance tally in a 4-1 victory over Bellingham.

Eleazar Galvan (Wenatchee FC) :: A natural first-half hat-trick gave the Capitals a commanding hold on the game as they cruised to a 4-1 win on the road against the Olympic Force.

Jesse Esquivel (Yakima United) :: He finished two nice combination plays to give the Hoppers a two-goal lead at home against unbeaten South Sound in a contest that finished 2-2.

COMING UP IN WEEK 4

Friday, May 15

South Sound @ Olympic Force - 7:30

Saturday, May 16

Vancouver Victory @ Spokane Shadow - 7:00

James Williamson (C)

The defending champions play host to the current league-leaders Saturday. Last year, the Shadow and Victory played to a 1-1 stalemate in Spokane July 6 on their debut confrontation. The visiting Victory took the lead on a Mirza Ramic penalty 31 minutes into the contest, but Graison Le equalized in the 69th on a ball from Pete Peterson. Spokane won the following Thursday in Vancouver by a 2-1 score on goals from Derek Zimmerman and Mike Ramos in a three-goal second half. Vancouver pulled one back through Jamoy Stevens with 15 minutes left but couldn't find an equalizer.

The Victory feature several area players on their roster from local schools with Spokane's Ian Farley out of Pacific University and Coeur d'Alene's James Williamson of Corban University. Farley is unable to make the trip due to graduation, but Williamson (Lake City HS / CDA Sting) is excited to be returning to his old stomping grounds.

"I am eager to play in front of friends and family again," said Williamson, who helped lead Corban to the Cascade Collegiate Conference title last fall and was recognized as the EPLWA's Defensive Player of the Week for the opening weekend of the season. "It is not often that the opportunity arises, so I hope to make the most of it."

"As for the match, we are excited to make the trip and are confident that our preparation will reward us with three points on the road. This is a big game for us, if we get the win, that will really separate us from the rest of group with a four point advantage."

Bellingham United @ Seattle Stars - 6:30

Sunday, May 17

Yakima United @ Wenatchee FC - 6:00

Coming off the heels of a successful weekend at home in which they earned a draw against one of the league-leaders and put on a tremendous doubleheader with the Sounders Women versus Central Washington game that drew a Yakima EPLWA high crowd of 662, the Hoppers take to the road to face their central Washington rivals.

Both are coming off good results on the field a week ago, but the series between the two comes in heavily to Wenatchee's favor as they swept the Hoppers a year ago. The Capitals took the first game 3-1 at home in late May and then posted a 4-0 victory in Yakima in mid-June.

A big factor in both games was this week's big goal scorer for the Capitals, Eleazar Galvan. He notched a goal and an assist in both games for Wenatchee. Joel Villa had a goal and an assist to open the first match and Yonaton Rodriguez scored the final two goals in the second game. Yakima's lone strike came via Junior Garcia, who spoiled the shutout with a 90th minute strike in the first meeting.

"Last weekend was a great weekend for us with the double header with the Sounders Women," said Yakima manager Joshua Vega. "Obviously it's tough to kinda blow a two-goal lead and come away with a draw when you had a hand on three points, but I still think we're making positive progress, getting four points from three games where we got zero last season. And, we'll try to continue that progress against Wenatchee."

"We've never beaten Wenatchee - they beat us both times last year so I think we definitely owe them one, but we'll see. Hopefully we can get three points there. There's a bit of a who's the best in CW type of thing going on there and believe me, we think we're the best Central Washington has to offer and hopefully we can prove that this weekend. It won't be easy. Wenatchee is a good team and they always try to play attractive football. Should be a great match for neutrals."

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