OLYMPIA, WA — Just last summer the Oly Town Artesians fielded its first ever USL W League team in franchise history and the first in the state of Washington to compete in the USL women’s league expansion. Chris Wells, a former Reign FC staffer and Seattle University assistant coach was up for the challenge with an undefeated record of 8-0-2 and a number one seed into the USL national tournament last summer in 2023. Oly Town announced Thursday that Wells would not be helming the USL W team in 2024 however promoted to Sporting Director for the local Olympia, Washington club.
“The sporting director role brings about a great opportunity to oversee the growth and development of both the men’s and women’s program at Oly Town FC” said Chris Wells. ”Liviu Bird did a great job last year of getting our men’s program a huge step forward. With that I’m excited to work with Jason Dunn and our future new women’s head coach on building off the groundwork formed last year.”
Just last week the Artesians announced that former Seattle Sounder Jason Dunn would be taking the reigns on the USL men’s program in 2024. As sporting director Chris Wells will have influence over the entire USL development and future. Wells knows all about finding talent, as over 40 division one athletes showed up in Olympia last summer in 2023 to make it to the final 16 in the USL nation.
“With the growth Oly Town is experiencing its paramount that we have the right people in leadership to guide us on our path upward” said owner Ryan Perkins. ”Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and believe he has earned his place at the table to move us into the clubs next chapter.”
Chris Wells has coached all levels from youth, division one athletes and pro players while also winning two Northwest Premier League (NWPL) Championships with the Seattle Stars. Known for his recruiting abilities, Wells oversees the Seattle University women’s soccer program recruiting and has years of experience helping assistant coach the Redhawks. His team made it to the conference title game despite obstacles in the fall of 2023.
“Our Seattle University season was a tale of adversity and how important team culture and chemistry is” said Wells about Seattle Universities last season. ”We had a very resilient group that overcame several early season ending injuries to make our conference Championship game. One of those seasons that you’ll never forget given the roller coaster and the reminder of how important culture and chemistry is.”
The USL W League squad which was recruited by Wells had several all-Americans and Olympic athletes including Shu Ohba (Japan National Team, Ole Miss), Neeku Purcell (United States Youth National Keeper, UCLA) and even had former OL Reign and Stanford National Champion Mariah Lee. Emily Bunnell, Emma Eddy and Mariah Lee would sign professional soccer contracts immediately following their summer season with Oly Town.
Katherine Asman (Penn State) made it to the elite 8 of the NCAA tournament while Diera Walton (Utah State) picked up countless conference and national honors. McKenna Martinez (Oregon State) continued to be a scoring machine in the Pac 12 and Maia Tabion clinched the NCAA College Cup with Columbia University. Sydney Stephens had another standout year at the University of Illinois. Stephens was voted the team MVP in 2023 for the USL W at Oly Town.
The Artesians are awaiting a USL release of the 2024 schedule and anticipate being the sole women’s team in the state of Washington again. Their counterparts in Oregon include PDX FC (Portland, OR), Lane United (Eugene, OR), Capital FC (Salem, OR) and United PDX (Portland, OR) for both USL League Two and the W League. The men’s side has seen a significant expansion in western Washington including new pop-up clubs Junction FC (West Seattle), Midlakes (Bellevue) and local arena team the Stars (Tacoma).
“2024 is going to be an exciting year for both sides” said Wells regarding summer 2024. ”There is a lot of positive momentum right now and more than we had at this point a year ago. It’s going to be special.”
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