The early season in the Evergreen Premier League is picking up where last season left off with clubs jumping back and forth over each other for the top spot in the table. Vancouver Victory FC earned a 2-0 win at Spokane Saturday night to improve to 4-0-0 while Seattle Stars FC rallied from two goals down to take a 4-2 win over Bellingham at Starfire.
Spokane Shadow 0-2 Vancouver Victory FC
SPOKANE, WA—A day after South Sound FC jumped into the number one spot the Vancouver Victory took it back with their first-ever win over the Spokane Shadow. The Victory (4-0-0, 12 points) got goals from Borce Atanasov and Alex Nimo. They posted the third shut out in league play this season with Jordan Farr in goal. (Read Spokane match report here.)
In the 35th minute Atanasov collected a ball from about 22 yards out and juked two defenders by cutting to the right. He stepped around and fired a shot from the top of the box that was tipped but went in for a 1-0 V2FC advantage.
In the 78th minute Alex Nimo double the visitor’s total. Center Back James Williamson, who had a large contingent of family and friends at the match from across the Idaho border, took a long throw-in that ended up at the feet of Nimo just a few yards out in the penalty box. Nimo finished with a side volley to make it 2-0.
In 2014 the clubs had played to a 1-1 draw in Spokane and a 2-1 Shadow win at Vancouver.
Now the defending EPLWA champions have managed just one point from their first two home matches, and stand 1-1-1 on the season with four points. Last year the Shadow started 0-0-2 with two straight home losses before running off a long streak that led to the title.
Vancouver leads the league in goals scored (13) and least goals allowed (4). The Victory have spread around their attack. Nine different players have combined to score their 13 goals.
The Shadow have a week off before hosting Yakima United FC Saturday night May 30 at 7 PM at Spokane Falls CC Stadium. Vancouver returns home to host Wenatchee FC on Sunday May 24 at 2 PM at McKenzie Stadium.
| EVERGREEN PREMIER LEAGUE – 2015 (Through May 16) | Pts | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD |
| VANCOUVER VICTORY FC | 12 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 |
| SOUTH SOUND FC | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 |
| SEATTLE STARS FC | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 |
| SPOKANE SHADOW | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 |
| YAKIMA UNITED FC | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 |
| WENATCHEE FC | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 11 | -4 |
| OLYMPIC FORCE | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | -7 |
| BELLINGHAM UNITED FC | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 17 | -13 |
Seattle Stars FC 4-2 Bellingham United
TUKWILA, WA— Seattle Stars FC (2-1-1, 7 points) moved into third place in the table with a 4-2 win over Bellingham United (0-4-0, 0 points) on Saturday night at Starfire Sports Stadium.
The match started brightly for the Hammers, who saw the scoring prowess of last year’s EPLWA goalKING Tyler Bjork return. He notched two first-half goals to give BUFC a 2-0 lead. The Hammers couldn’t hold that lead even to the halftime whistle. Seattle got two back and then scored two more in the second half to pull away.
Nate Reitz fed a ball to Bjork in the 17th minute that Tyler finished well to put the Hammers up 1-0. It was 2-0 when Bjork headed home a long cross from Sean Conner in the 37th minute.
The match turned before the break. In the 42nd minute Cornelius Ieremie got his second goal of the season. Then Manuel Maldonado leveled the match at the 44-minute mark for Seattle.
In the second half the Stars took the lead on a penalty kick conversion. In the 55th minute Anderson Dias stepped to the spot and converted for a 3-2 Stars advantage.
The match was clinched in the late stages when Ali Seyedali got Seattle’s 4th at ’89.
The Seattle Stars are off to a very nice start this season, sitting all the way up at 3rd place after four matches played. Meanwhile Bellingham United is struggling, winless after four matches and having been outscored 17-4.
The Stars will go back north to Snohomish County to play the Olympic Force at Quil Ceda Stadium in Marysville on Saturday May 23 at 3:30 PM as part of a doubleheader with the WPSL Fuerza FC and Olympic Force Women.
Bellingham United will continue the search for a turnaround on Sunday May 24 at 1 PM when they travel to Yakima to play the Hoppers at 1 PM at Marquette Stadium.
Evergreen Premier League 
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