Owen Gortner Hattrick propels Bellevue Athletic to 4-1 win against Gala FC

Written by Adam Race

Bellevue Athletic won their third consecutive UPSL match on Sunday in Everett, soundly defeating Gala FC 4-1 in a game the Eastside Boys dominated whistle to whistle. The match was highlighted by a second-half hat-trick from Owen Gortner, who now has four goals in just two Spring 2025 UPSL matches since returning from injury and scoring on his season debut last week against United Sports.

BAFC now sit second in the UPSL-Washington table after this weekend’s results around the league and have a six-point cushion within the playoff qualification zone. The Athletic have not lost since match week two, and hold the second-longest undefeated run in the league behind only table-toppers SeaGam.

The match started with a few early half-chances for Bellevue, with Edgar Lopez-Ramirez forcing a pair of saves on a handful of early shots from distance. Gala FC fell back into a low block from the start of the game, and Bellevue were keen to push the line of engagement high up the field into the hosts’ defensive third. 

The best early chance came in the 4th minute when a pinpoint far-post cross from Scott Burkholder was headed on goal by ex-Gala man Miguel Guevara, only to be denied by Gala goalkeeper Alexis Viteri Bohorquez.

Bohorquez seemed unbeatable in the first half as Bellevue tested him with shot after shot on goal. In the 30th minute, Owen Gortner got on the end of a cross just moments after coming on, putting a header on target at point-blank range, which was tipped over the bar impressively by Bohorquez. Just a couple minutes later, Jackson Finn was fouled at the very edge of the box, leading to a free kick from perhaps the most enticing spot on the pitch. Marc Pedrosa stepped up and curled it around the wall, but once again Bohorquez came up big for the hosts, pawing it wide of the net.

Bellevue thought they had finally broken through in the 41st when Miguel Guevara beat his man off the dribble, drove to the end line and rolled a cross to Jackson Finn who cleverly flicked it past Boroquez, only for Gala’s Benjamin Banks to clear it off the goal line. 

When the referee blew the whistle for halftime, the game had only been brought to Bellevue’s defensive third on a couple of occasions. The first 45 was played almost entirely in Gala’s defensive half, with the hosts failing to record a shot or real threat on goal. The halftime score of 0-0 was in large part a result of an outstanding performance in net from Bohorquez. 

The second half began much as the first had gone, with Bellevue getting consistent service into the penalty area from the wings. The opening minutes of the second 45 were defined by Eyal Shechtman providing crosses from the right side, but Bellevue misfiring on their first few chances to shoot.

Bohorquez was called into action for the first time in the second half in the 51st minute when Marc Pedrosa rolled a free kick on the deck for Jackson Finn to run on to, but his close-range effort was denied by Bohorquez, who was able to quickly react and close the gap. 

Gala registered their first shot on goal in the 53rd minute when they were able to send a long ball down the right side of the pitch, which was picked up by Parker Van Driel, who did not connect cleanly and ended up tamely rolling the ball into Janke’s gloves for a comfortable save. Gala followed their first chance up with a quick second, but this time skied it between the football posts on a half volley from the top of the area. 

Bellevue were finally able to find their breakthrough in the 58th minute, when some lovely buildup play between Marc Pedrosa and Eyal Shechtman gave Shechtman space to drive in a low cross, which was turned home by Owen Gortner from 8 yards out. The strike marked Gortner’s second-straight UPSL game in which he has opened the scoring for BAFC, and Shechtman was rewarded for his excellent second-half play with his first assist of 2025. 

Once the first goal went in, the floodgates opened for the Eastside Boys. Just a couple of minutes later in the 60th, a mishit clearance from Gala bounced straight into the path of second-half substitute Nicholas Rivera, who pounced on the defensive mistake and fired it in for his first UPSL goal of 2025 in his season debut to make it 2-0.

Bellevue added another insurance goal in the 66th when an attempted bicycle kick clearance came off the side of a Gala defender’s boot, and fell neatly for Owen Gortner, who blasted it into the top of the net for his second of the match. 

Gortner would complete his hat-trick in the 74th minute, receiving a pass from Guevara at the top of the box, faking a shot to shake his defender and slotting his shot beyond the goalkeeper to make it 4-0 and round out a phenomenal second half.

Gala would get a goal back in the 76th minute when the hosts’ first corner kick of the match was executed to perfection. Daniel Kalehezo was able to get himself open on a route straight off the training pitch, receiving a ball on the turf from Anthony Garcia Huerta, and placing a low shot into the far-side netting to end the visitors’ shutout bid. 

Bellevue would see out the remaining 15 minutes of the match, and the game would end 4-1, Bellevue’s third straight UPSL win and second straight three-goal road victory.

The player of the match was undoubtedly Owen Gortner, with the hat-trick hero now sitting on four league goals in 2025 despite playing less than 160 minutes in the UPSL season. “I think that’s my first hat-trick, so that feels good to get,” said Gortner postgame. “It was an all-around good team performance. We created a ton of good chances, and I was able to get on the end of them and put them away.”

After a first 45 minutes in which Bellevue were denied again and again in front of net, it would have been easy for the visitors to let those frustrations affect them, but Gortner says that the squad did an excellent job of keeping the level up for the full 90. “It’s about not getting frustrated, staying disciplined, and knowing that we are good enough to create chances, and if we keep creating chances, the goals are going to come. In the second half, the goals came in like a waterfall. Once we got the first goal, we were able to put in a couple more and put the game away.”

Bellevue Athletic have found their midseason form, winning their last three games in a row, undefeated in their last four, and now up to second in the UPSL table. Head Coach Mike Mata talked postgame about how the squad has been playing the exact style of soccer that he believes the club should aim to play. “I’m very happy with the performance. It’s what every coach is looking for, to apply the style that you work on during the week, so it’s very rewarding to win in this way.”

Gala employed one of the most disciplined low-block defenses that Bellevue has come up against all season. Mata talked post-game about how his squad was able to break down that low block in the second half: “At halftime, I asked the boys to exploit the wings, and since their keeper was very good in the air, to cross it on the ground. I told them to stay resilient, and once we got one, I knew they could get a second and a third, and that’s what happened.”

Mata was also very pleased with the individual performance of Owen Gortner: “He works super hard, he’s an example of discipline and resilience, and it’s great to have him back.”

Bellevue’s next match is back at the friendly confines of Bellevue College against UPSL newcomers Everett Jets on Sunday. The match will carry heavy playoff implications as Everett are in 5th place in the UPSL table, four points outside the qualification zone and six points behind Bellevue, but currently hold a game in hand. A fourth consecutive win could go a long way towards Bellevue’s hopes of clinching a return to the postseason. “We have to keep working hard and applying our work in practice as we did today,” said Mata. “Our goal right now is to catch up with first place, and if not, then to qualify for playoffs.”

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