Only a few weeks ago, Orange County SC had a devastating loss against San Antonio FC. But, as the teams met again this Saturday, OCSC got sweet redemption with a 1-0 victory and clinched a home playoff match.
FIRST HALF
These two teams were clearly hungry for a win, and that passion quickly turned into aggression as the match kicked off. In just 11 minutes of play, two yellow cards were handed out to Orange County's Seth Casiple and San Antonio's Connor Maloney. The physical clashes between both squads would only get more heated as the game continued.
The first chance on goal came from a free kick taken by Brian Iloski, who has been brilliant in his set-piece placements lately. He curved a cross into the box that got deflected towards the post where Milan Iloski was waiting to head the ball toward the net; unfortunately, the aim wasn't quite right, and the attempt went straight into Nick Marsman’s arms.
Milan started an absolutely brilliant moment of team play after receiving a long forward pass over the heads up the SAFC defense. He had two defenders putting pressure on him on the right side of the box, but Milan cut back to the center with masterful footwork and broke away. Passes to Kevin Partida, Kyle Scott, and finally to Ryan Doghman on the opposite side of the box gave a shot opportunity. The attempt was blocked; however, the deflection came to Partida, who sent a second strike on a wide-open goal. The whole sequence seemed guaranteed to open the scoreline, but midfielder Mohammad Abu was on the goal line and stopped the shot, saving his team from going down early.
Although OCSC seemed dominant in possession, San Antonio had their own counterattack attempts. However, they did not have clinical chances on goal in the first half, thanks to the control of County's backline. Nakkim and Powers were vital anchors who shut down their opponents' attacks whenever they got close to the eighteen-yard line.
It's almost redundant to say, but if a team is going to beat Orange County SC, they must find an answer for Milan Iloski, and San Antonio couldn't figure out how to stop him. In the 31st minute, Milan collected the ball at the top of the box and took a shot toward the low corner of the net that just went wide. But then, a little more than ten minutes later, he was given the ball in the same spot with a pass from Scott; he dribbled past a defender to gain some more space and sent a snipped strike right into the low corner to give Orange County a 1-0 lead at half-time.
SECOND HALF
The tension between these two teams only continued to rise as the second half kicked off and reached its boiling point in the 55th minute when Mitchell Taintor sent his heel into the crotch of Mark McNulty. McNulty unfortunately retaliated and grabbed the shirt of Taintor, who fell to the floor, covering his face. It was a questionable and heated moment, but the actions of McNulty earned him a red card, and he was sent off the pitch, leaving his team down a man for the remainder of the match.
Things continued to escalate as Juan Azocar, only two minutes after coming on as a sub, pushed Kyle Scott to the ground and caused another skirmish between the two teams. Multiple yellow cards and forty-three fouls were committed between the two sides by the time the match ended.
Back to the actual form of play, winning a game after being down a man is always challenging for a team. Still, even with such a huge disadvantage, OCSC continued to hold the majority of possession and prevent San Antonio from having too many clinical attacking chances.
A perfect example of Orange County's ability to stay dominant through the match was their ability to counter in the midfield. Partida’s skill at winning the ball back from his opponents and finding passing lanes amongst the chaos in the middle really kept his team competitive, even with a man down.
Shutler was just as aggressive as the rest of his team throughout the second half. He wasn’t challenged too much in the first half, but as the game came closer to its end, Shutler came far off his line multiple times to clear away any possibility of San Antonio finding an equalizer.
However, in the last moment of added time, Shutler made a mistake that almost cost his team the win. San Antonio quickly recovered the ball at the half and started a counterattack. Shutler came out of the box to clear the danger away but shanked the clearance and left his goal wide open. Tani Oluwaseyi sent a shot in, but Andrew Fox got to the goal line and headed it away from the net. Things weren't over, though, as Nathan Fogaça followed through and took another shot that Shutler stopped with a brilliant leaping save and gave Orange County SC the victory.
LOOKING AHEAD
Getting the win over San Antonio FC this weekend was huge for Orange County's placement on the Western Conference standings and a sign of redemption after they lost to them by four goals a few weeks ago. By earning all three points and with Phoenix Rising losing their match, Orange County SC has officially clinched a home playoff match on October 21st.
Although playoffs are on everyone’s mind now, the regular season is still ongoing. The last match will be an away game against Monterey Bay FC on Saturday, October 14th, and is still incredibly important if the boys in orange and black want to finish in 2nd place and potentially earn more than one home playoff game.
