Steelheads Men get big win over Portland to stay in WISL playoff race

SNOHOMISH, WA— The Snohomish County FC Steelheads Men scored an 8-3 victory over the visiting Portland Blacktails on Saturday Night January 22 at the Snohomish Sports Dome. The win helped the Fish finish with a winning home record in their first Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL) season and also boosted the team’s playoff hopes.

First Half Shutout

It was end-to-end action in the first quarter with chances on goal coming at a premium. It wasn’t until Devin Shull’s goal with 8:30 left in the second quarter that the match saw a score. Jeremy Maldonado’s assist off the boards was knocked home to make it 1-0 Snohomish. The Steelheads took a 2-0 lead into halftime after Maldonado fired a laser shot with 57 seconds to go off of a pass from Bryan Fakkema.

Exchanging Goals

Snohomish continued the pressure and Maldonado once again came through to make it 3-0 just seconds into the second half. This time it was Shull feeding Jeremy at 14:13.

Portland finally got on the board after being held scoreless for almost 33 minutes by goalkeeper Trevor Davoren and the SnoCo FC defense. Kevin Escobar drew one back for the Blacktails at 12:07 of the third and it was 3-1.

Andrew Curtis scored his first goal as a Steelhead with 8 minutes to play in the period off an assist from Bryce Coffin to restore the 3 goal advantage at 4-1. The Blacktails stuck around though, and closed the gap to 2 goals when Chuy Petino made it 4-2 with just under 6 minutes to play in the period.

Pulling Away

The Steelheads entered the fourth quarter with a 4-2 lead but Devin Shull’s second strike of the night at 13:35 increased the advantage to 5-2. Adan Fernandez assisted. Then in a quick sequence the Fish all but finished off the match with two more goals.

Tye Hastings scored at 10:30 (from Andrew Escalante) and just 22 seconds later Tyler Sharp also scored (from Mike Sitzman) and suddenly it was 7-2 Snohomish.

The match scoring pace slowed the rest of the way with the teams exchanging single goals. Portland made it 7-3 when Petino scored his second of the match at 9:31. The Fish finished out with a goal from Bryan Fakkema (assist from Cristiano Whitaker) with 1:31 left in the match to secure the 8-3 score line.

Home Winning Record

The win means the Fish finish with a 3-2-0 (W-L-D) record in WISL matches at the Snohomish Sports Dome in the team’s first season. Wins came over Oly Town, Oly-Pen and Portland. Losses came at the feet of contenders Tacoma and Bellingham.

Still Alive For A Playoff Spot

The Steelheads currently lead the bottom half of the WISL table. The Fish have a 3-6-0 record with 9 standing points. This puts them 5 points up on Portland and 6 points up on Oly-Pen. The Blacktails and Force play Sunday night Jan. 23 in Portland.

The Steelheads will travel to Oly-Pen Force on January 22 to close out the regular season with a match in Bremerton that may well have playoff implications.