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Bellingham United win first game this season

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ellingham United players Uche Ugwoaba, right, and Nick Cashmere, left, celebrate after Ugwoaba's goal that put Bellingham up 2-0 in their game against Wenatchee FC on Saturday, July 18 at Civic Field. Photo by Jake Tull

After a tough season, Bellingham United Football Club finally have their first victory of the summer and it came against Wenatchee Football Club. The Hammers won 6-2 on Saturday, July 18.

Bellingham had an additional 15 minutes to prepare for Wenatchee FC as the opposing team was stuck in traffic on Interstate-5 going through Mount Vernon, which forced the game to start 15 minutes later than had been planned.

Shortly after kickoff, Bellingham United jumped out to a quick lead with three goals 15 minutes into the match.

At halftime, the score was 4-1 in favor of the Hammers. They added two more goals before the game's end and Wenatchee got another. The game ended 6-2 and fans celebrated during the entire second half of play, excited to be witnessing the team's first win this season in what has been a very difficult season for both the fans and the players.

Forward Nicholas Cashmere was named Man of the Match with three assists. Cashmere, who played at San Jose State, said the team changed the formation from how they were playing earlier in the year which helped them attack the goal and create more opportunities.

“We scored some goals and that’s what makes the difference,” Cashmere said. “We’ve been getting a lot of shots in the season, we just haven’t been putting them away. Today we finally did it, so it made the difference.”

Head Coach Lance Calloway said he was pleased by the complete game that the team played. Cashmere was dynamic and dangerous on the field by creating space and opportunities to score. He rewarded his teammates rather than himself as a result, Calloway said.

“[Defensively] we had a couple mistakes where we gave up goals, but in general [the defenders] snuffed out a lot of the attack,” Calloway said. “The opponents were pretty direct so they were able to absorb a lot of it, especially as the game progressed and it was 5-1.”

With one more game left this season, Cashmere said he hopes to finish strong with another win and earn some more points. Currently, the team has four points in the league; with one win and one tie as well, he said.

Daniel Klotzer, a Bellingham United fan, was pleased with the outcome of the match as he felt the team played well and fought hard until the end of the match.

“The game was great, offensively we played awesome,” Klotzer said. “Our forwards were attacking with good motion, the midfield was very clear, we had great defense with a couple of flubs for goals.”

Bellingham United went  on to play the Spokane Shadow at home the next day, Sunday, July 19. They would lose 2-0 as the Shadow captured the 2015 Evergreen Premier League title. Bellingham United will finish their season at Civic Stadium at 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 26 against the Seattle Stars FC, who have a record of 3-7-3.


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