Heads Carolina, Tails California
It was a much needed result for Orange County SC last weekend. Lyam MacKinnon opened up his USL Championship account with a pair of second half goals. It was easily the best game that Orange County had played to this point in the season. The game saw good defense with heavy possession and even Orange County having to quickly regroup after conceding a goal towards the end of the match and still come away with a positive result.
The match should do a lot for the confidence of the group but there is still one big task that they have to complete and that is winning a game on the road. This is very paramount to having a successful season. Orange County has won their games this season behind their offense and have been at the mercy of it when it is not performing.
The Tulsa game was a good litmus test of playing a mid table playoff team at home and Friday’s game will be very similar to that one except it will take place in the Tarheel state. For the first time in club history, Orange County SC will face North Carolina FC away.
THE OPPONENT - NORTH CAROLINA FC
North Carolina celebrated their return to the USL Championship last season by qualifying for the postseason. One of the more under the radar franchises in the Eastern Conference is coming into 2025 with what looks to be an improved roster. The early results in the season would be in support of this as well with North Carolina sitting 5th in the Eastern Conference. A truly middle of the road offense paired along with the middle of the road defense; perfect for the team from tobacco road. North Carolina have also found themselves with a number of impressive wins including Pittsburgh, Charleston and Tulsa who are all in very similar positions to North Carolina. As long as they do not play teams from Charlotte then they would be in pretty good shape in all of their competitions. But alas losses to both Charlotte FC and the Charlotte Independence in their tournament games means that the regular season is likely the main focus going forward.
North Carolina are under the care of John Bradford who returns for 2025 coming off a postseason appearance last year.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
USL League One has been a breeding ground for forwards that a number of USL Championship teams have gone to for offense. North Carolina dipped into the market with the addition of their newest attacking midfielder Pedro Dolabella. Dolabella was a stalwart of Union Omaha helping them achieve the USL double with both a players shield as well as a League One title in 2024. Dolabella has gotten off to an alright start with 2 goals in 6 league appearances and has even found one helper. That was one stat last season about Dolabella is the fact that Dolabella is able to rack up big numbers in both goal scoring and goal assisting.
On the orange side of things is Orange County’s very own League One product coming in from Greenville Triumph SC. Lyam MacKinnon is the reigning golden boot winner from the 2024 League One season and was able to ignite with a brace against FC Tulsa. What made it stand out more was the increased number of shots on target that MacKinnon had which ultimately led to the number of chances and therefore number of goals. When the offense is able to score goals then the defense can be able to bend but not break just enough like it did last weekend.
PREDICTED STARTING XI
Lyam MacKinnon looked like everything that he is supposed to be and more and as such will be the biggest threat going forward. The lineup last weekend was also a bit more different than what we are used to seeing Nico Benalcazar playing much higher up the pitch and Vuk Latinovich making a start at center back. Other than that it was business as usual.
Nathan Wander
MacKinnon
Dunbar Scott Benalcazar Jamison
Partida
Doghman Latinovich Miles Santos
Shutler
The 4-1-4-1 formation worked wonders for Stone last week with the 5 man midfield able to dominate possession at 54 percent. However the match did see the early departure of Tom Brewitt unfortunately due to an injury and for that reason I believe Ashton Miles starts on the backline. Santos and Doghman will cover the outside backs and the midfield largely is business as usual. It will also be interesting to see just how many consecutive games Colin Shutler can start in goal for OC. Through 11 competitive games he has been in net for every single minute of it and then some.
THE MATCHUP
This is only the second time that Orange County and North Carolina will meet historically. Last season saw the two teams meet in Irvine and it was North Carolina who pulled off the upset in what was a shocking result. The away game trend for Orange County has not been good under Danny Stone but they can look to rectify that. It has been a long time since Orange County made their way to the Northern side of the Carolinas in fact it will be the first time since 2013 when the then Los Angeles Blues went to Wilmington, North Carolina to take on the Hammerheads. North Carolina FC are coming off a very short week that saw them play on Tuesday against Charlotte FC in the Open Cup and will be playing again on two days' rest. Orange County will be looking for their first win streak in 2025.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - @ North Carolina FC (USL Championship)
When - May 9th, 4:00 PM PST
Where - WakeMed Soccer Park (Cary, NC)
OCSC Form - WLLLW
NCFC Form - LWLLW
All-Time Series - 0-0-1 (1 Matchup)
TV - Golazo Sports Network, ESPN+