This weekend Orange County SC visited The Lab, home of New Mexico United, where they left fans brokenhearted and fearful that this could very well be a repeat of last season’s disaster.
**Note from the editor: This article was written prior to the departure of Head Coach Richard Chaplow, and does not otherwise mention this news.
FIRST HALF:
The start of the match saw Orange County SC revert to their unproven strategy of using long passes up to the strikers for a quick attack on goal, but each attempt gave up control of the game back to New Mexico United.
One of these instances almost looked promising after a bad clearance opened a counterattack from Ashish Chattha. He was able to set up the first push on goal of the evening by sending the ball wide to Ryan Doghman who sent a cross into the middle of the box, but Bryce Jamison narrowly missed a header that could have started this game at a drastically different pace.
New Mexico looked consistently controlled in their attack early in the match, able to build up through the midfield, but the black and orange defensive line stayed equally composed throughout the first twenty minutes as they stopped anything from causing goalkeeper Cody Cropper to sweat.
That was until the 22nd minute of the match, where a miscommunication between Markus Nakkim and Brent Richards led to a collision that set them both off balance. This opened a run from Greg Hurst to take a shot on goal and opened the score to a 1-0 lead from New Mexico United lead.
The remainder of the half saw Orange County completely dominated in the middle of the field. The home team outpaced and outplayed in almost every battle. The United defense, with critical tackles, stopped all the attacking runs OC attempted and their passing awareness allowed them to run circles around the midfield. After the first goal by New Mexico, Orange County SC seemed completely out of steam.
SECOND HALF:
Before the whistle for the second half was blown, Richard Chaplow made a couple of substitutions for the lineup. Korede Osundina came on the pitch, replacing Bryce Jamison, and the most surprising change was when Milan Iloski switched out for Thomas Amang. An interesting strategic play that unfortunately wasn’t played out, as Amang’s first run on the ball saw him left with a hamstring injury and ended his night early in the 51st minute, Kyle Scott took his place.
Soon after, New Mexico found a dangerous run on the ball after it was sent over Orange County’s defensive line. In a crucial decision, Cropper ran out of his box and took on the role of sweeper-keeper, and cleared the ball out before the United offense could capitalize.
Doghman breathed life back into Orange County when he made a run with the ball towards the top of the box and found Emil Nielsen alone on the outside who was open for a shot on goal. The strike was lightly pushed away by goalkeeper Alexandros Tambakis and then deflected back into the net by defender Josh Suggs for an own goal, tying things up at 1-1.
After the goal, Orange County found their drive again and pushed forward with a mix of clinical passes in the middle and quick transitions off counters. They opened a few more chances on goal with a determined desire to take the lead, the best of which came with a shot from outside the box by Alex Villanueva that barely went wide.
This energy did not last long, however. A poor clearance from Brent Richards led Josh Dolling to take back possession at the top of OC’s box, made a pass through the legs of Nakkim, and found Hurst, who gave New Mexico the lead again by earning his brace of the night.
It was Doghman and Scott who showed the most promise for the remainder of the match. Scott did his best to take control of the midfield with significant tackles on United’s half of the pitch and created dangerous counters, while Doghman stayed consistent with strong runs on the outside. Unfortunately, the offense continued to struggle to find a finish on goal.
With Andrew Fox absent from the lineup, Orange County’s center-back depth was clearly lacking throughout. In the 74th minute, New Mexico took advantage of this as Dolling saw another free passing lane toward Sergio Rivas on the outside. The setup completely beat OCSC's back line and left Cropper all alone for the shot to go in, giving United a 3-1 lead.
Seth Casiple and Marc McNulty were subbed on to replace Chattha and Villanueva, but the change seemed to come too late in the match to make a real difference. The third goal completely stole the wind out of Orange County’s sails and the rest of the match continued the dominance of the home team and resulted in a New Mexico United victory.
LOOKING AHEAD:
Heartbroken and disappointed is the feeling of fans after watching Orange County lose 3-1 this weekend. The Orange and Black are officially doing worse this season than last year after losing four of their eight matches so far. At a certain point, the team’s lackluster performance can’t be blamed on bad luck or the lack of experience of a mostly fresh roster of players. Whether the shift needs to be in the offense finding the right finishing touches, the midfield keeping control of the pace of play, or the defense holding their line, one thing is clear: Something needs to change.
It is still too early in the season to completely give up hope though and the change needed could happen at home this Saturday, May 6th, as Orange County faces off against rival team San Diego Loyal at Championship Stadium.