Summer Road Trip Makes Last Stop
Nearly a third of the way through the USL Championship season has revealed a lot not only about Orange County SC but the league as a whole.
First, Orange County SC are one of the streakiest teams in the USL that dislikes playing away from Championship Soccer Stadium. Having yet to win anything on the road and only scoring its first league away goal in 2025 after 11 games is pretty good evidence to support that.
Second, Orange County SC have not done themselves any favors with their defensive play. The club has conceded a goal in 15 consecutive games dating back to last season which has tied a club record from the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The streak includes playoff games, US Open Cup games, USL League Cup games and regular season games as well. I feel like a broken record whenever I bring this up but everyone is to blame from the midfield to the backline to the keeper as well. The 20 goals conceded to this point in league play are second worst in the West only ahead of the lackluster Oakland Roots who fired their coach.
Third, even with all of this negativity Orange County are nowhere near the worst team in the Western Conference. The West this season has two distinct groups of teams. Clubs are either really good or really bad with no team really finding themselves in the middle like in the Eastern Conference. Orange County finds themselves in the latter group but their average play is still good enough to put them 7th in the West. The top 8 teams make the postseason and Orange County are still on track to qualify for the postseason. Lexington cannot win a game, Las Vegas cannot score goals, Colorado Springs are in the middle of a hangover, while Oakland and Sacramento have yet to play consistently. OC has a game in hand on all those teams except Sacramento with Orange County having won the first game already between the two.
Really the season is nowhere near over and Orange County can turn around their fortunes with just a draw.
THE OPPONENT - EL PASO LOCOMOTIVE FC
A team that is not in the bad group is El Paso Locomotive who have started off 2025 quite well. The Locomotive are in a three way tie for 2nd in the West with 20 points and have done so on the backs of their offense who have scored 21 goals this season. Second best in the Western Conference. El Paso can best be described as a team deep with USL veterans thanks in part to former RGV head coach Wilmer Cabrera who brought along a number of former Toros from South Texas to West Texas. Cabrera took over during the middle of last season and actually turned things around for a team who was already eliminated from the postseason. Add on Frank Lopez from Miami FC and Memo Diaz from Oakland and this is a team that truly knows what the USL entails.
It has shown too with El Paso undefeated in their last six league games including an impressive win against rival New Mexico. This is a club that made it to consecutive Conference finals in its first two seasons but have not had a deep playoff run since then. This season has proven that they will figure to return back to the postseason.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Another USL veteran that joined El Paso is that of former Pittsburgh goalkeeper Jahmali Waite. Waite, a shot-stopping keeper by trait, is coming off career highs in saves and save percentage in 2024 with El Paso. However it has been backup keeper Sebastian Mora-Mora that has gotten the net in their last three games. Mora-Mora is also having a respectable year that has seen him collect two clean sheets overall and only conceding five goals in eight games overall. Whoever is in net on Saturday will not be an easy one to score on. Former OC man Eric Calvillo will also look to wreak havoc on his former team.
On the orange side of things, Orange County SC has needed its USL veterans to step up and become leaders of the team. One of those individuals that has proven himself to be a starter is that of Chris Hegardt. Hegardt is now in his second season with OCSC and has quite the resume already for only being 23 years of age. He does have a scoring touch in his repertoire which we have seen already this season and has had outstanding games the past couple of weeks in the midfield. It will be a battle of midfields on Saturday and OC is going to need Hegardt at his best to counter El Paso.
PREDICTED STARTING XI
No injury issues for Orange County that is known about and they will need every single individual at their best to try and squeak out a positive result.
Colin Shutler will remain in net until morale improves. Likewise Orange County should look to right the ship any way it can, even if it means not playing the younger players. Santos and Trager have the experience and will get the start because of it. The midfield will also be a senior team lineup that will need to play at its best. We should likely see Ousmane Sylla come in as a sub and we may also see Ethan Zubak make an appearance as well. Guimaraes and Jamison are off on international duty.
THE MATCHUP
El Paso has historically been a team that Orange County have had issues getting three points from. This is going to be the 12th ever matchup between the two clubs, a series that does have one playoff game as well. It was not until last season that Orange County was finally able to get their first points and win in El Paso. There is a lot more on the line for Orange County than there is for El Paso with all of the defensive miscues but El Paso are also susceptible to conceding goals as well.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - @ El Paso Locomotive FC (USL Championship)
When - June 14th, 6:00 PM PST
Where - Southwest University Park (El Paso, TX)
OCSC Form - LLWLL
ELP Form - DLWWD
All-Time Series - 3-4-4 (11 Matchups)
TV - ESPN+