BELLEVUE, WA — There were absolute scenes at the Bellevue College Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon as Midlakes United defeated FC Olympia by a score of 2-1. After conceding a goal in the 72nd minute, Midlakes rallied and came back to collect the three points and
a second straight victory.
Going into Sunday’s contest, Midlakes United had just won a 1-0 match on
Friday night at home. In said victory, they were down a man for about 58 minutes. The
big question for this Sunday’s match was, how would Midlakes United perform in a 11-
on-11 match for a full 90 minutes?
At kickoff, there was heavy rain coming onto the Bellevue College Soccer
Complex. This did not, however, stop the Midlakes United faithful from showing out for
their team. The first half was evenly matched as both teams exchanged scoring
chances and spells of possession. Neither team found the breakthrough they were
looking for, leading them to a 0-0 stalemate at the half. Midlakes United head coach
Justi Baumgardt pointed out after the game, “I thought we did well [in] the first half. We
kept the ball, we created chances. We just, unfortunately, didn’t finish them. That has to
be a priority for us. We need to take advantage of those opportunities we get and make
sure that we put them away.” During halftime, funnily enough, the rain seceded a bit and
that is when the action on the pitch picked up a considerable amount.
Right at the start of the second half, FC Olympia came firing right out of the gate.
They put on a great deal of pressure on the Midlakes United backline as they created a
couple of meaningful chances in succession in the first few minutes of action. Things
seem to get a bit dire for Midlakes United when left back Matteo Moreno Madrid went
down with an injury in the 47 th minute. Zach Ramsey came on to replace him and he had
quite an impact. As the second half progressed, his work on the pitch became evident
as he began to cause problems for FC Olympia on the left side of the pitch. Coach
Baumgardt spoke highly of him, “[Ramsey] came in with a lot of energy. He’s got great
pace. He works both sides of the ball and can provide us an option to go forward as well
as his defensive presence back there. He did very well for us.”
The pressure by FC Olympia paid off in the 72nd minute when they performed a
well-constructed play that midfielder Nico Wiskel finished off by shooting a beautiful
volley that ended on the back of the net. This did not take the wind off the sails of
Midlakes United. Instead, it fueled them.
Shortly after, in the 77th minute, Midlakes United found their breakthrough when
forward Nii Engmann’s header was saved and the rebound fell to midfielder Jason
Buezo, who coolly slotted it home. With the home supporters now in full volume,
Midlakes United continued to push. They kept on pressing FC Olympia into turning it
over at their own half. Then, in the 82nd minute, the comeback was completed. Midlakes
United forward Lars Thorne-Thomsen delivered a great ball into the box, which then
found the head of a FC Olympia defender, causing him to put the ball into his own net.
This play would not have been possible without the presence of Nii Engmann. He was
right behind the FC Olympia player, giving trouble in the clearance of the ball.
Regarding the goal, Engmann said, “For me, the ball was coming, and I was trying to
get my head on it. Even if can’t get my head on it, I am always going to try to get as
close to it as possible, trying to put the defender off. Lucky enough, it ended up on the
back of the net.” Thanks to this tenacity around the ball, combined with the high work
rate by Midlakes United, the victory was attained on home turf.
Certainly, as evidenced by Sunday’s game against FC Olympia, Midlakes United
can fight back when they are against the ropes. “When it mattered, we finished our
chances. We brought that competitiveness. We competed” stated coach Baumgardt.
Going forward into the USL 2 season, Midlakes United can feel confident in their ability
of overcoming adversity. Whether that be grinding out a 1-0 result when down a man, or
coming back from a late deficit, the team has shown that they can win in more ways
than one. Midlakes United midfielder Cooper Brunell emphatically declared, “If we are
down, we are certainly not out. We can go down 1 or 2 but we’ll come back.”
Midlakes United will be in action again on Thursday, June 6th as they go on the
road to face Capital FC with a 7:00 pm kickoff.
All Photos by Dakota Grim / Area Sports Network
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