Bellevue Athletic Face SeaGam FC in Semi-Final Rubber Match
Written by Adam Race
Bellevue Athletic will take on SeaGam for a third time in Spring 2025 on Saturday, and this time, it’s win or go home.
Regular-season champs BAFC begin their postseason quest for a third consecutive state and regional UPSL title this weekend in the UPSL-Washington Semi-finals against four-seeded SeaGam.
Bellevue enter the playoffs riding a nine-game UPSL winning streak going back to matchweek two, when they were defeated by SeaGam 3-2 in Shoreline. BAFC have since gotten their revenge on SeaGam, beating them 3-2 in the reverse fixture two weeks ago in Bellevue, and going on to clinch the regular season title last week after an 8-0 win over Thurston County.
In Spring 2025, Bellevue Athletic have averaged a 5-1 win, posting four shutouts and only being shut out once. The Eastside boys posted two wins, a draw, and a loss against the other three playoff-bound clubs in 2025, SeaGam, 3 Cities, and Seattle Eagles.
SeaGam led the league table for most of the season, and had a six-game winning streak from matchday two to matchday nine. However, they lost their last three games of the season, 1-0 vs 3 Cities, 3-2 vs Bellevue, and most recently 3-2 against Everett Jets, to fall from first to fourth place. SeaGam averaged 3.2 goals in their debut 2025 UPSL season, but gave up two goals per game, which is the highest average goals against amongst the four playoff teams.
Despite their opponent’s recent struggles, Bellevue know very well how dangerous this SeaGam team can be, as they are the only UPSL squad to beat or even hold a lead against the Eastside Boys in 2025.
Bellevue Head Coach Mike Mata said in the lead-up to the match: “We know this SeaGam team well now, this game will be more similar to the second of our matchups. This game is in Bellevue, and that will be an advantage; our fans will be an extra boost.”
Mata has led Bellevue to back-to-back triumphs in the UPSL-Washington playoffs, and after claiming a second straight regular season title last weekend, is preparing his squad for another deep postseason run. “I’m very proud of this team getting back-to-back regular-season championships,” said Mata. “Since the very first day of practice in February, this team knew clearly that the expectation was to win the state title in order to compete in nationals. They are prepared and eager to achieve this.”
The match will be played this Saturday at Bellevue High School Field, with kickoff at 7 pm.
Owen Gortner’s Record-Shattering Season
The story of the second half of the season for Bellevue has been the astonishing goal-scoring output of striker Owen Gortner. Gortner, who was BAFC’s second leading scorer in Fall 2024, missed the first portion of the 2025 season due to injury, not making his season debut until Matchday six against United Sports.
Gortner would score on his return against United Sports in a 2-1 win, but did not seem satisfied post-match, saying, “I could have had more, I’ll score more next week.” Gortner would make good on this promise, notching a second-half hat trick in a 4-1 win at Gala FC. Gortner wouldn’t look back after that point, scoring in all 6 of his UPSL appearances for Bellevue in 2025 for an incredible 15 goals.
Gortner’s goals tally not only leads the team, but also puts him third in the entire UPSL nationwide, despite only playing half the season. It is also significant in Bellevue history, easily shattering the team’s previous single-season goals record and catapulting the striker to the top of BAFC’s all-time competitive goals scored list.
Bellevue Athletic Career Competitive Goals Scored
Player | Goals | |
1st | Owen Gortner | 24 |
2nd | Jacen Stein | 18 |
3rd | Nicholas Rivera | 16 |
4th | Connor Steward | 13 |
5th | Tyler Hopp | 12 |
“I feel both very honored and proud of both of these achievements,” said Gortner. “They are a testament to how hard I’ve worked individually all offseason, but equally a reflection of the amount of work we’ve put in as a squad to get where we are. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without the guys around me and without the people running the club. Bellevue Athletic is a great club to be at, and I can’t wait to add to these goal totals!”
Gortner has been the spearpoint of a Bellevue attack which has been the best in the division in 2025, and accounts for more than half of the 24 goals scored by Bellevue since his season debut. “This season we have a special squad of creative players,” said Gortner. “I think our coach is able to get the best out of us by setting us up right and then letting us go out there and battle and really showcase our individual styles and be creative.”
Gortner will be a key piece as Bellevue pursues more hardware in the postseason and hopes to be a part of a second-straight state and regional title. “The main thing for us is going to be to keep trusting in ourselves no matter what. Similar to throughout the regular season, if we can stay calm and patient, we know that we can score goals and get results, even if we’re down. I think the depth of our squad will be vital for a deep playoff run this season,ason and I think we have the squad to do it.”
Bellevue Athletic 2025 UPSL Stats
Individual: Outfield
Player | Goals | Assists | Goal Contributions | Appearances |
Owen Gortner | 15 | 0 | 15 | 6 |
Tyler Hopp | 5 | 4 | 9 | 4 |
Kenny Mansally | 5 | 4 | 9 | 7 |
Jacen Stein | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
Jackson Finn | 3 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
Kaydin Wall | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
Nii Engmann | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Nicholas Rivera | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Eyal Shechtman | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
Marc Pedrosa | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
Kiran Menezes | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Beckham Mischel | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Edgar Lopez-Ramirez | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Scott Burkholder | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
Brady Minor | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
Eli Peterson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Ernesto Arevalo | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Zak Khan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Austin Hill | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Miguel Guevara | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
Aiden Drought | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Enrique Guerrero | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Cameron Yriondo | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Lunden Fenster | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Jack Haegele | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Austin Shepherd | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Individual: Goalkeeping
Player | Starts | Saves | Goals against | GAA | Clean Sheets |
Matt Janke | 8 | 30 | 8 | 1.00 | 3 |
Bruce Corrie | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2.00 | 0 |
Keegan Brennan | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
Team: Overall
Bellevue | Opponents | |
Goals | 49 | 10 |
Goals per game | 4.9 | 1.00 |
Clean sheets | 4 | 1 |
Final UPSL Washington Standings/Schedule
Team | GP | W-D-L | GD | Points | |
1st | C – Bellevue Athletic | 10 | 8-1-1 | +39 | 25 |
2nd | x – Seattle Eagles | 10 | 8-0-2 | +30 | 24 |
3rd | x – 3 Cities Football Club | 10 | 6-2-2 | +28 | 20 |
4th | x – SeaGam FC | 10 | 6-0-4 | +13 | 18 |
5th | e – Everett Jets | 10 | 5-2-3 | +9 | 17 |
6th | e – United Sports FC | 10 | 5-1-4 | +11 | 16 |
7th | e – Snohomish Sky FC | 10 | 2-1-7 | -7 | 7 |
8th | e – Gala FC | 10 | 1-1-8 | -21 | 4 |
9th | e – Thurston County | 10 | 0-0-10 | -102 | 0 |
Playoff Qualification Zone
C = Regular-Season Champions
x = Clinched Playoffs
e = Eliminated
UPSL-Washington Semi-Finals Schedule: |
|---|
Saturday, June 21st: SeaGam FC at Bellevue Athletic, 7 pm
Sunday, June 22nd: 3 Cities FC at Seattle Eagles, 4 pm |
How To Follow
Fans can follow Bellevue Athletic online at bellevueathletic.com and via social media on Instagram (@bellevueathletic), Facebook (@bellevueathletic), and YouTube (@bellevueathletic).