Orange County SC’s first away game of the season saw them travel east to face off against Hartford Athletic, for the first time in club history, at the Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford, CT. A strong battle between these two teams ended with Orange County’s third tie in a row at 1-1.
FIRST HALF:
Richard Chaplow made a couple of notable changes to the starting lineup on Saturday. Marc "Sparky" McNulty and Bryce Jamison both made their starting debuts with OCSC, giving fans an immediate hint that there would be an emphasis on a more offensive strategy right out of the gate. Ryan Doghman also joined the starting XI for the first time this season as the left back.
Right out of the gate, OCSC’s plan of attack became clear; use the middle field to control the ball and set up counters with passing runs up the middle to either Milan Iloski or McNulty to go for goal. In the 5th minute of the match, Milan was fouled by Hartford defender Kaveh Rad just outside the eighteen-yard line earning him the first of many yellow cards this match. Milan took a masterclass free kick finding the back of the net, beating GK Richard Sanchez, on the near post. This would be Milan’s twenty-fourth goal with Orange County, tying Michael Seaton for the club’s overall goal record.
The first goal of the match did not stop OC’s momentum as it was clear they were eager to find as many early goals as possible. McNulty showed a lot of energy and aggression in this first half as he could be seen hungry for the ball at every chance he got, even coming back a couple of times with some strong tackles to stop Hartford from pressing forward. He had a handful of amazing runs as well, one of which came in the 21st minute when he received a fantastic pass, sadly his shot went straight to Sanchez for the save.
As the first half went on, Hartford took over most of the possession and pressed hard against Orange County’s defensive line. Almost every one of their attacks had a focus on getting the ball to the outside line for an eventual cross in the middle. On these crosses, multiple shots toward the goal were produced beating OC's central defense too many times. This tactic eventually led to the equalizer off a drop ball near the corner where Elvis Amoh took a shot from a bounce and rocketed it to the far corner of the net in the 8th minute of extra time.
SECOND HALF:
The lineup shifted a bit for Orange County, seeing some half-time subs come on. McNulty had to leave the pitch right before the first half ended bringing on Emil Nielsen, while the start of the second half saw Brent Richards replace Alex Villanueva and Seth Casiple come on for Bryce Jamison.
There were a few more great attacking opportunities from the boys in orange and black and they stuck with their first-half strategy of trying to control the middle of the pitch. Kevin Partida and Daniel Pedersen both did wonderfully at causing turnovers and opening up Hartford for some hard counters. One of these moments saw the ball get to the left wing finding Doghman, he made a beautiful cross to Milan, but the shot went wide.
The closest chance they had for a winning goal came from Milan causing a mistake and bringing Sanchez off his line. The ball would find Nielsen who took a shot on goal, but the ball was stopped on the line by some amazing defensive work from Danny Barrera. This would be the unfortunate theme of the rest of the match for Orange County, where they had some fantastic chances on goal that they couldn’t seem to follow through with a strong enough finish to make it back into the net.
As both teams struggled and pushed to find a winning goal, the aggression ramped up. In the second half, there were ten yellow cards given out, five for Hartford and five for Orange County.
Hartford Athletic continued to control the majority of possession throughout the rest of the match, with 65% over OC's 35%, but there weren't many strong chances on goal again from the home team. They continued to focus on what has been Orange County’s clear weakness this season, playing to the wings and crossing in the middle for shots, however, their attempts were always too high or wide to give Cody Cropper a real challenge.
OCSC also held on to their same attacking strategy for the second half, seeing a lot of long ball passes up the middle from the midfield counters. This led to quite a few offside calls on Milan and Nielsen stopping their momentum and ending the match in a 1-1 draw.
LOOKING FORWARD:
Their first away game of the season ended with another tie for Orange County SC, making that three in a row this season. The string of draws lately may be brewing up some worry in the fans about how the rest of the 2023 season may go, however, it is still far too early to begin losing hope. Although the boys in orange and black have yet to earn a win, it is clear they have been battling their hearts out on the pitch every week.
Some highlights from the match were in the performances of the midfield, as most of the attacking counters OC came from the great performances of Pedersen, Partida, Ashish Chattha, and Casiple. Milan Iloski earned his second Man of the Match this week with a perfect free kick early on and some chances on goal that made everyone hold their breath.
As soon as this squad can find the right finishing touches on goal, the confidence in this team will begin to soar and hopefully bring on the start of a winning streak.
Next week we can all be excited for a return home as the start of Orange County SC’s entrance into the US Open Cup kicks off Wednesday, April 5th, at 7:00 PM PST. They will face off against local NISA club Capo FC. After the midweek match, the team will go back on the road for their second away game on Saturday, April 8th to take on El Paso Locomotive at 6:30pm PST.