Orange County Battles With Fellow Slow Starters New Mexico
With OC bumped from the Open Cup, all of their attention now shifts to the league.
Through seven league games, Orange County have only played a fellow Western Conference opponent in only two of those games. The start of the season has seen new matchups along with sophomore showdowns but now OC will set to duel with a more familiar Western Conference opponent, New Mexico United.
Orange County so far into league play currently sit in 9th on 6 points which is one short of the playoff line while their counterparts New Mexico sit further back at 11th on 4 points.
THE OPPONENT - NEW MEXICO UNITED
The Black and Yellow of New Mexico have only one win this season but that statistic fails to tell the story. Through five games played, all five of their opponents are teams currently sitting in playoff positions. New Mexico’s lone win came on opening weekend in Miami in 1-0 fashion. Since then they have played Western Conference powerhouses San Diego Loyal (Draw), and were beaten by Oakland, Monterey Bay, and Colorado Springs. Most recently, they were able to defeat rivals Phoenix in the third round of the Open Cup on Wednesday.
Historically New Mexico is a respectable side making their debut in 2019 and only missing the playoffs once in 2021. Head coach Zach Prince is in his second season at the helm after a successful first season that saw New Mexico qualify for the playoffs after their best regular season to date with 51 points.
This will only be New Mexico’s second league game to be played at Isotopes Park, and like Orange County, will look for a bit more wins and start climbing up the table.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
One player that has often given opposing teams fits is that of midfielder Santi Moar. The Spaniard has a career 44 goals in the USL Championship with one in the 2023 season. This is Moar’s second stint with the Black and Yellow. He spent one year with the club during their inaugural season in 2019 before joining Desert rivals Phoenix Rising where he spent three seasons. He made the switch back to the Albuquerque-based side this past offseason and is looking for a little bit more efficiency.
On the Orange side of things, Ryan Doghman seems to be the answer at left back. Doghman, in league play, has earned himself back-to-back player of the match honors and has started the past four league games for OC. He awarded Chaplow for this by getting an assist in what would be Orange County’s lone goal in last week's defeat against Birmingham.
Likewise, city of Orange native Chris Wehan is also a part of the New Mexico midfield for a second time. Wehan has had two one-year stints with Orange County in 2021 and all the way back to 2013. During his 2021 season where he had 4 goals in 16 appearances, Wehan was transferred to New Mexico as part of a league-record intra-league transfer and has remained there since.
THE MATCHUP
This will be the fifth matchup all-time between the Western Conference foes. It has been a very even matchup with both teams earning one win away to go along with two draws. The last time these two teams met came last season, June 4th, in what would be New Mexico’s first ever victory over Orange County in a 2-1 effort. Orange County overall will need to start winning any games it can if they want to move on past the regular season. One positive note is that Orange County have scored in all but one of their 9 total games. If OC wants to win then it’ll need the offense to continue scoring.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - @ New Mexico United (USL Championship)
When - April 29, 6:00 PST
Where - Isotopes Park (Albuquerque, NM)
OCSC Form - LLWLW
NM Form - WLDLW
All-Time Matchup - 1-1-2
TV - ESPN+