The Orange Mile
The frustration levels for Orange County are getting a bit high and with good reason too. They are in the midst of a season-long 5 game stretch without victory and the suspect defense has returned. They have conceded three or more goals in three of their last five games and that has happened both at home and on the road.
Of the starting back line they have now lost three different defenders to injuries including goalkeeper Colin Shutler who has now missed the last two games. But almost mercifully OC will finally return home and kick off the final month of the season. A final month of the season that will see Orange County play all but one game outside of California in the last seven games of the season. Of those seven remaining games, five of them are played in the county.
OC definitely has the opportunity to sneak into the postseason but they have to actually win games to do that and the pressure gets bigger and bigger with every match. Even though OC are bunkering down for the last month of the regular season they will have a very hard schedule including the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. The buzz word for the remainder of the regular season will be games in hand which OC still have on their side. They still have two in hand on some teams but again they have to win said games for it to matter. The first test is Charleston who have already qualified for the postseason and are just trying to catch Louisville; a team OC will also face in October.
THE OPPONENT - CHARLESTON BATTERY
The last time that OC played Charleston they suffered their worst defeat in club history. So really anything will be an improvement on that.
But what might be even scarier is that Charleston is a very good team who alongside Louisville have dominated the Eastern Conference. Charleston had already clinched a postseason spot with more than a month left to play and currently hold a 14-point advantage over the third place team. They are the best offense in the league and have the fourth best defense in the Eastern Conference. 2024 was already their best season in club history and that is saying something since Charleston are one of the oldest USL clubs dating back to the late 90s. But 2025 is on pace to even top that. The biggest question is always going to be can Charleston finally get over the hump. The Western Conference has won the last five USL titles and only two of those finals were hosted by the Western Conference team. There is definitely an argument to be made that teams like Louisville and Charleston almost always win the players’ shield due to the Eastern Conference being weaker than the West but that is debate for another time. Charleston are on a quest to win their first USL title since 2012 and whether or not they have to face Louisville is something they will wait and see.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Last season Charleston’s Nick Markanich won player of the year award and was the brightest star on a team that had lots and lots of offensive battery. Markanich has since moved onto European soccer but Charleston did not waste any time in finding players to replace his offensive output. One of these players is USL veteran Cal Jennings who is now with his fourth USL team. Jennings is a double-digit goal scorer for the majority of his career and 2025 is no different where he has already notched 16 regular season goals in 25 appearances. Those 16 goals are also leading the league and three ahead of the next best. I am not sure what is more impressive. The fact that Cal Jennings is four goals away from a career best or that he only accounts for about 30 percent of Charleston’s offense.
On the orange side of things, there were a number of new faces in 2025 for OC but the newest player who has played the best is someone that not many expected to be the most important. Nico Benalcazar has become one of the more important members of the team and has really stepped up in a number of positions. The 24-year old utilityman has surpassed career highs in appearances, goals and assists and is doing so playing in both the midfield and the backline. Last week was probably the only bright spot of the loss to San Antonio where he scored a wonder of a goal but also won 7 of 8 of his duels on defense. In a season that has had a lot of roster turnover, Nico is one player who has definitely earned a spot on future teams.
PREDICTED STARTING XI
This is easily the safest lineup that OC can realistically field not knowing the seriousness of a couple of players injuries namely Tom Brewitt. I would not look too much into it, OC has to get any points they can and the players in the best form should get the starts.
THE MATCHUP
Original 3 matchups are always a fun note to mention but unlike OC’s dominance of Pittsburgh, Charleston has historically had the number of Orange County. The most notable result is of course the 0-6 drubbing that occurred last year in South Carolina but these two teams have actually met in the postseason back in the USL of old. However one unique fact is that even though Charleston holds the all-time series over OC at 5-2-2, Charleston is 0-2 when playing in Orange County. This will only be the third game in Orange County for Charleston and second in Championship Soccer Stadium and Charleston will look to earn their first points overall there. Also of note is that OC’s five-game winless run of games happened at a similar time to last season’s lengthy winless streak and that streak also included a Charleston matchup. Perhaps this year will be different. A loss for Orange County would really put them in a hole.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - vs Charleston Battery (USL Championship)
When - September 27th, 7:00 PM PST
Where - Championship Soccer Stadium (Irvine, CA)
OCSC Form - LDLDL
CHS Form - WDWLW
All-Time Series - 2-2-5 (9 Matchups)
TV - FanDuel Sports SoCal, ESPN+, KCAL+ 9.6
Don’t miss the pre-game fun at Great Park Ice, followed by a march to the match at 6:10.