Beginning their 16th season of competitive play and 14th in the city of Irvine, Orange County SC will open the 2026 regular season at home against Las Vegas Lights FC on Saturday the 7th. It is the eighth time OC will open the season at home and the first time facing Las Vegas in this fixture.
Orange County will begin 2026 under head coach Danny Stone who enters only his second full season as manager. He returns with a fairly retained roster from last year's playoff team that also now employs a bevy of younger players that replaced some USL veterans that departed. On paper this is nowhere near the strongest team that OC have fielded in recent memory and there are genuinely a number of questions that need to be asked. How much can we rely on the depth? Will the defense be good enough to win games? These were all issues last season and that season was good enough to make the postseason so there is a competitive team to be had.
Of course the biggest storylines for the league in 2026 is what is happening off the field. As of writing this, there are looming player strikes and other labor pains plaguing the USL and rightfully so considering that a team has folded nearly every offseason. So again as of Wednesday afternoon around 1:30 pm there is a game that will be played on Saturday.
THE OPPONENT - LAS VEGAS LIGHTS FC
For one season, the Las Vegas Lights were a legitimate team in the USL. Just two seasons ago this was a team that was one game away from hosting a USL Final. They had finally not only made the playoffs but also won their first playoff games in club history. They had a young squad with a young head coach and ownership that actually treated the club like a professional team. But as many USL teams find out when they start getting successful is that a lot of teams will get jealous. Thus the head coach from 2024 had left.
2025 was awful for Las Vegas, a team that only scored 15 (!) goals from open play all regular season. It was bad enough that current head coach Devin Rensing took on the job midway through the season in what was his first head coaching stint after assistant jobs at Memphis and Charleston. This season the squad got a massive overhaul and they now have a few USL veterans. These include Ben Mines, Nighte Pickering, Manuel Arteaga and that is just scratching the surface. It will be an interesting season to say the least for Las Vegas who certainly have the personnel necessary to make the postseason but making it all cohesive will be the hard part.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
The last and probably most important player for Las Vegas Lights is one that OCSC fans will be very familiar with. Kyle Scott has returned to the USL Championship after a stint with Crawley Town last season. Kyle Scott has been on a few teams now but his stint with Orange County remains to be the longest as he made 75 appearances with OC, 50 more than the second most. He should be a major focal point for Las Vegas this season as someone who will likely be the main generator of offense. Kyle Scott has only scored four goals in his club career to this point but if last season was a sign for Las Vegas then they will be asking everyone to shoot the ball in 2026.
On the orange side of things, we start things off with the captain for 2026 defenseman Tom Brewitt. The fact of the matter is that OCSC are not the same team defensively when Brewitt is not playing. Last season he was only able to suit up for 18 games. Just how important is Brewitt, of the 12 games that Brewitt did not play OC were only able to win 2 of them. When Tom Brewitt did play for the club they went 8-3-7. The 29-year old center back is still in the prime of his career and his availability will be important for OC’s playoff aspirations.
PREDICTED STARTING XI
Last season got progressively tougher and tougher to predict the lineups due to injuries. It is definitely easier at the start of the season to make a lineup and for this week we will likely see only one “out of position” player.
Ethan Zubak and Lyam MacKinnon are both seasoned veterans who have found success in previous seasons. They are both somewhat of a similar playing style that will not burn teams with speed but rather with positioning and finishing. MacKinnon in particular will look to bounce back after injuries derailed his 2025 season. The midfield has the least amount of change. Expect Kelly and Partida to play a bit further back in the formation while Hegardt and Sylla will funnel offense to the forwards and outside wing backs. Speaking of wingbacks, yes, you do see Mohamadou War at right back. This is what he played in the preseason, to somewhat varying degrees of success, and we should expect to see this for the month of March until Grayson Doody returns from his injury. The other three defenders are the standard. In goal, it is Alex Rando’s starting spot to lose and he will make his OCSC debut against his former club in Las Vegas.
THE MATCH UP
The Orange County-Las Vegas rivalry is easily the most one-sided affair in OC’s favor. And while OC still leads the all-time series, it is not that much of a cakewalk as it was in previous years. In fact, Orange County has not won the season series against Las Vegas since 2023.
Orange County did easily win the last time these two teams met in late 2025 with a 4-1 victory. These are a pair of teams who both have a lot of questions to answer.
Las Vegas will be looking to return to the postseason after missing last year while Orange County will attempt to continue their franchise record three consecutive seasons of postseason qualification. OC historically has not started seasons all that well. For their efforts, they have only won the opening game of the season four times in their history.
Off the field, this is the first match with Championship Soccer Stadium’s newest seating expansion.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - vs Las Vegas Lights FC (USL Championship)
When - March 7th, 7:00 PM PST
Where - Championship Soccer Stadium (Irvine, CA)
OCSC Form - (first game)
LVL Form - (first game)
All-Time Series - 11-4-6 (21 Games)
TV - ESPN+