Orange County Soccer Club rebounds big at home.

Irvine, CA - A week after a tough road loss to Tacoma to open their season, Orange County Soccer Club returned home to welcome not only Sacramento Republic to town, but also fans back into the stadium. The team looked a little flat their first game so Orange County was hoping that their home crowd would fire them up and fire them up they did.

Coach Cloutier “wanted to see a rebound” after last weeks loss and right away you saw a different Orange County on the pitch. The formation was a little different as Michael Orozco, who usually starts in the back line, was positioned higher up the pitch and frequently set up in front of the two center backs, Rob Kiernan and newly arrived Rhys Breen. This allowed for a more fluid approach to the match as Orozco could move up higher like he loves to do anyway, while having the cover of a really good center back pairing. 

The fight showed early on as Orange County looked to be the more dangerous side for most of the match. Young starter Ronaldo Damus had great looks early and fought for several headers, putting one wide early in the first half, but it was midfielder Chris Wehan who supplied the fireworks for Orange County this match.

Wehan played well in his midfield role and frequently found himself high up the pitch. In the 33rd minute, Damus made a great run to the right of Thomas Enevoldsen which pulled the defenders to the right, that allowed Wehan to slip in on Enevoldsen’s left. He was through and he gave the home fans something to cheer about, scoring his first goal in Orange and Black.

Wehan said that “he felt good” but was quick to point out that “getting three points feels better than getting a goal.” He was quick to point out that it was a team effort. “Solid performance from back to front, honestly, defensively it was a good from the guys and that’s what allowed us to get the three points tonight.”

Enevoldsen did have a chance to put the game away late in the match, but his attempt skipped wide, and Orange County had to settle for a tough but deserved win against Sacramento.

The match was hard fought and chippy, but Orange County was up for the fight. Both sides saw 4 yellow cards each, with 6 of those 8 cards coming in the second half. Despite the intensity on the pitch, OC constantly battled for each other and put together the type of game they needed to establish themselves as a playoff team in a tough Pacific Division.

A well dressed Braedan Cloutier pointed out the extra energy in winning “a massive three points this week.” He said having fans in the stands was huge and that it was “great to have fans in the stands because you can feel the energy and the atmosphere was incredible tonight.” He praised the back line especially newcomer Rhys Breen as well. 

When asked about the new tactical set up Cloutier said, “he didn’t feel we had enough bite in the midfield. It has been something that I have been wanting to try for a while now.” He went on to say “with Rhys coming in it gives us the flexibility to push Mike (Orozco) up a lot.” When asked about the fight his team had on the pitch tonight, he said “it was tremendous. That was the message before the game, definitely put the body on the line.”

Orange County looks to keep that intensity up as welcome in Los Angeles Galaxy II next Saturday. This match will be played at Championship Soccer Stadium with kickoff set for 7:00 PM.

Scoring:

33’: Chris Wehan (Enevoldsen)

Discipline:

36’: Mikko Kuningas (Yellow)

43’: Luis Fernandes (Yellow)

46’: Tucker Bone (Yellow)

48’: Rob Kiernan (Yellow)

51’: Eero Markkanen (Yellow)

69’: Jordan McCrary (Yellow)

73’: Dan Casey (Yellow)

80’: Ronaldo Damus (Yellow)