Orange County SC had their second away game of the season on Saturday, continuing their frustrating start to the season with a loss to the El Paso Locomotive.
FIRST HALF:
The match started fairly even as the two sides looked for any kind of openings on the other's defense. Orange County looked promising in the first 15 minutes with smart ball control and quick, short passes on the ground. Kevin Partida especially was in great form, controlling the middle of the pitch with his aggression and playmaking. A notable change to the formation for Orange County saw their captain, Daniel Pedersen, drop into the center-back position in the absence of Markus Nakkim.
Within the first few minutes, El Paso earned two yellow cards off a late tackle on Emil Nielsen, stopping his run down the outside line. Bence Pávkovics was booked for the tackle while Miles Lyons earned his card for something said to the referee.
El Paso took the first opportunity on goal in the game with a moment in the box, they took a shot that was blocked wonderfully by Ryan Doghman to allow OCSC to clear it from the box. Doghman looked focused all match, being one of the few bright spots for the Orange and Black throughout the whole 90 minutes.
In the 19th minute, El Paso earned a corner kick that was cleared out of the box by Brent Richards, but unfortunately, Locomotive stayed with the clearance and sent the ball back into the box to completely open Lucho Solignac. This caught the Orange County defense off guard and Lucho found the back of the net near the far post, opening the scoreboard to 1-0 for El Paso.
Orange County came back quickly with a hunger for the goal. Ashish Chattha made a fantastic tackle in the middle of the field to take the ball away from El Paso and pushed forward the counterattack. He found Nielsen open in the box for a one-on-one against Locomotive goalkeeper, Benny Diaz, but Nielsen’s shot went too high.
El Paso controlled the rest of the half, gaining 60% of possession, yet they didn’t create any other threatening attacking moments against OC’s defense.
Orange County kept trying to push through on their counterattacks, looking for any chance for an equalizer. Their energy led to an amazing chance on goal in the 40th minute as Bryce Jamison received the ball in the box and took a shot off a bounce, but Diaz made a spectacular save. Milan Iloski followed up on the deflection with a header to an open net, but again this was barely stopped by Eric Calvillo, who cleared the ball on the goal line. Keeping their lead at 1-0 as the first half ended.
SECOND HALF
El Paso continued with their pressure in the second half, where they started to overwhelm the Orange County midfield and stopped any counter attempts that provided OC with their few openings at the beginning of the game. They had quite a few opportunities for a second goal, but most of their shots went too high or wide.
Andrew Fox earned himself a yellow card with a late tackle in the 58th minute and gave El Paso a dangerous free kick just outside the box. Luckily, Cody Cropper made a great save, tipping the shot from Denys Kostyshin over the crossbar.
Korede Osundina would come on in the 64th minute replacing Alex Villanueva in the midfield. Soon after taking the pitch, he would help in the only solid chance Orange County had on net in the second half. Doghman made a great cross on the ground, flicked on by Osundina to find Jamison at the top of the box. The shot was taken but went right into the hands of Diaz.
Brian Iloski, Joseph Buckley, and Nico Ruiz all made their season debuts for Orange County late in the match, but the rest of the half was more of the same with little action to be seen from the boys in Orange and Black. They fell back to their strategy of attempting long ball passes in hopes to find Milan for a run, however, El Paso stopped all their attempts. The final whistle was blown, ending this match at 1-0 for El Paso Locomotive.
LOOKING FORWARD:
One can only imagine that the team and the fans are frustrated at the results seen so far in this 2023 season. In five matches Orange County has only earned 3 points, all from draws. A loss this week has brought up the question to everyone; “Should we be worried?”
Things may be looking bleak right now, and although it’s hard to be positive, this early in the season is not the time to give up hope on this fresh new squad. Each game we are seeing some bright spots among the lineup and as soon as the boys can find their first strong win, everyone will let out a breath of relief that this won’t be just a repeat of last year.
Let's hope that win will be earned this week as Orange County make their way back home to face off against Indy Eleven at Championship Stadium on Saturday, April 15th at 7:00 PM PST.