The defending champions OCSC lost in heartbreaking fashion in the 94th minute of stoppage time due to a missed penalty kick by Erick “El Cubo” Torres at the Championship Soccer Stadium at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California, 2-1.
Irvine, California- Going into the game OCSC, who was in 12th place of the Western Conference, had to find a way to bounce back after another heartbreaking loss where OCSC blew a 2-1 lead over Oakland Roots only to lose 3-2 in stoppage time. New Mexico United, on the other hand, was coming off a three game winning streak with the latest victory, 2-1, against Indy Eleven.
The game started off with most of the possession going towards New Mexico United who’s offense and defense OCSC could not find an answer to. This was proven in the 15’ when OCSC’s 6’5 defender Albi Skendi fouled Neco Brett in the penalty area awarding New Mexico the penalty kick. The former player of the week Justin Portillo scored the penalty kick with a right footed shot to the bottom left hand corner giving the visiting team the 1-0 lead. This was Portillo’s fourth goal in his last three matches.
El Cubo would follow this with two back-t- back misses in the 24’ and 28’ with the latest being a header from very close range barely missing the top left corner after an assist from 19 year old Alex Villanueva.
With OCSC not taking full advantage of a couple of missed shots, New Mexico followed up with no problem when Neco Brett, after a fast break, assisted Chris Wehan for the 2-0 goal. Wehan, who was born in Orange County, scored in the 32’ with a right footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner.
After coming off the bench in the 37’, Sean Okoli tried to make his presence known with a right footed shot from outside the box barely missing the left side of the box after an assist from Daniel Pedersen not even a minute after replacing Hunter Gorskie.
Alexandros Tambakis would prove to be a pivotal role in the match and it started with a save in the 42’ of the first half after a right footed shot from the outside of the box from Daniel Pedersen was saved in the bottom right corner.
The second half started with two saves in the 50’ and 52’ by Tambakis over two close Okoli shots. Tambakis would save OCSC’s veteran captain, Michael Orozco’s, right footed shot from the center of the box and save in the bottom left corner.
After persisting on the offensive side, Orange County was rewarded with a goal in the 91’ of stoppage time after a right footed shot by Milan Iloski from outside the box to the bottom left corner. This was the second time this season that Iloski had scored from stoppage time. Iloski would surpass El Cubo as this was Iloski’s seventh goal of the season.
With dramatic fashion in the 94’, Kalen Ryden would foul El Cubo inside the penalty box. El Cubo would miss the penalty that would cost them the comeback and gave OCSC yet another loss to end the game 2-1 advantage New Mexico.
This devastating loss will give Orange County a lot to think about as they travel to Las Vegas when they face off against the Las Vegas Lights on Saturday June 11th 7:30 pm Pacific at Cashman Field.