POST-MATCH REVIEW: FIRST WESTERN CONFERENCE BATTLE

On Saturday night, Orange County SC had their first Western Conference matchup of the 2023 season against the Las Vegas Lights. It was an incredibly aggressive and offensive performance from both sides that ended the evening with a 2-2 draw.  

FIRST HALF:

The stats at the end of the first half may have shown Orange County to be the more possessive team, but everyone could see that the real dominant side was Las Vegas. OC reverted to their strategy of sending long ball passes that hardly ever connected with the right man and caused a lot of turnovers. This allowed Las Vegas to stay on the offensive, forcing Orange County to keep most of the possession on their own half and prevent any strong attacking opportunities.  

As in the previous matches, Orange County looked strong defensively in the middle thanks to both Andrew Fox and Markus Nakkim. There were some strong tackles from them and the midfielders; however, a lot of poor passes kept OC constantly retreating to their side of the half. Vegas eventually adapted well against the strong middle play and put their focus on outside runs.

This strategy led to the first goal of the night by the Lights. They punished OC’s defense with a hard counterattack to the right side where Lucas Stauffer made a deep run to barely stop the ball from passing the end line with a cross that found Erick ‘Cubo’ Torres for a header into the net. Cody Cropper got a hand on the shot, but it wasn’t enough, and Vegas opened the lead in the 40th minute 1-0.

Orange County’s only offensive opportunity arose from a wonderful corner kick in the last minutes of the first half that seemed to be a setup the squad had practiced in training. Dillon Powers made a short pass from the corner to Milan Iloski who quickly returned it with a back heel to catch Vegas off guard. From there, Powers got the ball to the top of the box to find Kyle Scott who unfortunately couldn’t get enough power on his shot to find the net, going straight to the Vegas goalkeeper Leo Diaz and ending the first half.

SECOND HALF:

Richard Chaplow must have done well in his halftime speech to the squad as they came back onto the pitch with a much better offensive press than the first half. There was a sub made as well bringing on the debut of Marc McNulty who would come on for Ashish Chattha. McNulty made his presence known right away as he constantly pushed the team forward with some strong attacking opportunities.

Cropper made a fantastic diving clearance as Las Vegas took the first attempt on goal in the second half with another strong cross. Cropper continued to excel in coming off his line throughout the rest of the game for some crucial stops and clearances, showing exactly why he has earned the starting goalkeeper spot.

In the 56th minute, Kyle Scott earned himself a yellow card after a late tackle but was immediately subbed off to bring captain Daniel Pedersen into the game. With Pedersen on the field, OC truly began to control the pace of the match with help from Powers and Kevin Partida to get a lot of forward push on Vegas’ defense.

In a fantastic sequence, McNulty was fed the ball from Pedersen taking a quick shot on goal and, although it was blocked by Diaz, McNulty caught the deflection and got a pass over to Milan. He then set himself up for a brilliant bicycle kick pass that found Alex Villanueva on the other side of the box for a perfect header into the back of the net for the equalizer.

Unfortunately, the excitement did not last long, as just two minutes later the Lights quickly fired back on Orange County where Andrew Carleton made another solid cross to the back post and found Pato Botello Faz for a volley shot making the match 2-1.

And yet, Las Vegas’ second goal did nothing to stop Orange County’s momentum. Again, just two minutes passed before Milan capitalized on a bad clearance from the Lights’ defense and he was able to take a grounded shot at the top of the box to get past Diaz tying things up again.

Bryce Jamison then came on in the 71st minute for Emil Nielsen and quickly put his fresh legs into action. His first touch on the ball saw him beat the defense on the right side and follow through with a strong low cross into the center of the box that narrowly missed McNulty’s feet. Another offensive sub saw Thomas Amang make his debut with OCSC in the 76th minute coming on for Powers. Another offensive switch that proved the team was hungry for another goal before the final whistle.

However, despite a few more opportunities Orange County couldn’t find a solid finisher in their offensive attempts in the last stretch of the match, and the game ended with a 2-2 draw.

LOOKING FORWARD:

After three consecutive home matches, Orange County SC earned just two points with a record of 0-2-1 to start the 2023 season. The squad now faces two away games, starting against Hartford Athletic next week, April 1st at 11:00 am PST.

Despite no wins, there was a lot of exciting soccer to be seen from the orange and black in their first three matches. This is still a fresh squad that has been working out the kinks of their strategy and execution, and as the season continues, we should all expect that this team will only continue to get better and better.