BELLEVUE, Wash. — The latest rendition of the Lake Washington Derby took place last night at Bellevue College, where West Seattle Junction FC picked up a valuable point on the road against Midlakes United thanks to a late equalizer from Joschi Schelb.
The visitors looked dangerous in attack from the first whistle, with midfielder Ricki Kobayashi firing his shot against the crossbar just 30 seconds into the contest. The visitors continued to put Midlakes under pressure early in the contest, forcing the hosts into playing the ball long while losing possession in the process.
Midlakes began to grow into the contest as the half wore on, with Jake Larson and the rest of the Junction backline doing well to deal with the added pressure, with proof of their efforts coming in their ability to dominate in the air while also catching Midlakes offsides on 11 occasions throughout the duration of last night’s matchup.
The Blues again came close to breaking the deadlock in the 23rd minute, this time through Marcos Bravo, who saw his effort pushed over the crossbar by Robert Reiter in goal for Midlakes. After a steady spell of possession it was again Junction FC who nearly opened the scoring, with Leon Tezuka firing his shot towards the bottom corner in the 35th minute, forcing Reiter down to his righthand side to make the save.
Midlakes’ best opportunity of the contest came shortly after Tezuka’s effort on goal, when Alex Notzka struck the post at the end of a counterattack, with the rebound landing safely in Niclas Isensee’s hands in goal for the Blues. Francisco Magana was eventually able to break the deadlock for the hosts with a goal in the 41st minute, with his headed effort looping past Isensee and into the back of the net.
Junction, looking to turn things around in the second half, nearly found the equalizer through Alex Mejia, whose first time effort forced Reiter into a kicksave in the 48th minute. As the second half wore on, the contest became more physical, with 14 fouls called on the night between both squads. Despite the scrappiness of the game, the Blues were able to find an answer late in the contest, after Schelb danced his way through Midlakes’ backline and fired his shot into the roof of the net in the 84th minute.
The visitors had one final chance in the 90th minute with a freekick in shooting range from Mejia, which was claimed by Reiter to keep things all square. With a point in hand, Junction FC will continue their road series with a trip south to Portland, Oregon, as they’ll take on Portland Bangers FC at 2:00 pm on Saturday, June 14th. Limited tickets are still available for purchase online, with fans also able to stream the contest HERE.
