BELLINGHAM UNITED vs. TACOMA STARS RESERVES

Saturday, January 25 – 7:35 – Bellingham Sportsplex

The big game this week in the Western Indoor Soccer League is in Bellingham where first place is on the line. The Stars Reserves come into the game three points ahead thanks to their 3-2 win over the Hammers in Tacoma. With a win, Tacoma clinches first place in the WISL’s regular season and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. If Bellingham wins by two goals or more, they will take over first place going into the final week of play.

The Stars Reserves enter the game having allowed just 21 goals this season. Goalkeeper Mike Arguello made seven starts before last week when Alec Greenfield made his first start with Arguello travelling with the MASL Tacoma Stars. The Stars have the week off, so Arguello may return to action for the Stars Reserves this week. The defense in front of goal has been fantastic with Logan Jones, Micah Wenzel, and Adrian Correa leading the way. Eddie Na, Danny Minniti and JJ Schmeck each are tied for the team lead in goals with nine and the Stars Reserves are the highest scoring team with 75 goals so far.

Meanwhile, Bellingham is second in goals scored (73) and second in least goals allowed (29), both just behind the Stars Reserves. Riley Liddle has been in goal for each of the Hammers eight games and was named Defensive Player Of The Week in week four. Richard Henderson leads Bellingham and the WISL with 16 goals and recently scored his 100th goal for the Hammers. Uriel Herrera is second in the league with 12 goals and Christian Caro is tied for third with 10.

The two teams are a combined 15-1-0 this season with a +98 goal differential.

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TACOMA NARROWS FC vs. SNOHOMISH SKYHAWKS

Saturday, January 26 – 7:00 – Tacoma Soccer Center

Tacoma Narrows FC can clinch a playoff spot with a win on Saturday night against the Snohomish Skyhawks. Snohomish can clinch a playoff spot with a win combined with an Oly-Pen Force loss. Snohomish knocked off Narrows 6-4 at the Snohomish Soccer Dome just before Christmas thanks to a 5-1 run to end the game and six different goal scorers. JC Henson score a hat trick in the loss.

Narrows (3-5-0) is coming off of just the second shutout in WISL history, an 8-0 dismantling of the Oly Town Artesians. Nate Salveson made 19 saves in the blanking and earned Defensive Player Of The Week for week eight. Henson leads Narrows with eight goals and Jeremy Maldonado has six scores for the first year club.

Snohomish (2-4-2) is led by Devin Shull’s 10 goals, which is tied for third in the league. John Troka and Tye Hastings trail him with seven and six goals respectively. Trevor Davoren has been good in goal after taking over for an injured Craig Otto midway through the first game and was named Defensive Player Of The Week for his efforts in a 4-4 draw against Oly Town two weeks ago.

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OLY TOWN ARTESIANS vs. OLY-PEN FORCE

Saturday, January 26 – 6:30 – The Pavilion at The Evergreen State College

The Force can neither clinch a spot nor be eliminated in their game against the Oly Town Artesians on Saturday, but can move into the driver’s seat for a playoff spot with a win and with a week 10 home date against Narrows FC on tap. Meanwhile, the Artesians are playing for pride, trying to win just their second game in two seasons.

Oly-Pen is led by former goalkeeper David Meherg’s nine goals and last year’s WISL Golden Boot winner, Alex Hernandez, has added eight. Luis Enrique Hidalgo also scored nine goals for the Force and won back-to-back Offensive Player Of The Week awards, but has since moved to New York to play professional indoor soccer with the Rochester Lancers. The Force started 0-3-0, their longest losing streak in club history, then went 2-0-0 including a 14-4 win over the Artesians just before Christmas, but is now 0-2-1 over their last three games.

The Artesians looked to have turned a corner with a 4-4 draw in Snohomish, but it turned out to be a dead end that resulted in an 8-0 shutout loss to Narrows last week. Collin Tate leads Oly Town with seven goals but they are both the lowest scoring team and the team that has allowed the most goals.