The Important Game in Hand
In a very competitive USL Championship, only one team in the entire league has won more than half of their games played. This would be Tampa Bay who through 13 league games played have won 8 of them. This means that each and every of the 24 other teams have not had the easiest of times winning games. There have been a lot of draws and Orange County SC are not exempt from this. Orange County are 5-5-2 through 12 games played but because of those crucial early season victories over fellow Western Conference opponents they are probably in the best spot to this point. Sitting second in the West and only behind first place San Antonio by a single point, Orange County can jump up to the top. Add in a game in hand on them as well and perhaps I have been a little harsh on them for recent performances.
When looking at who Orange County have faced thus far in the regular season through 12 games, 6 of those teams were playoff contenders in 2025. The current top 4 in the West including Orange County are San Antonio, Tulsa and Oakland; OC have defeated all 3 of them. If you are a team that plays up and down to competitors' skill level then that is still a postseason contender even if a little bit frustrating. Orange County will find themselves playing a Las Vegas team who currently sits 9th. These two sides met during the opening week of the season and fought to a 1-1 draw. While New Mexico United are a team who Orange County has a hard time playing against, Las Vegas has historically not played well against Orange County. It has gotten a bit more competitive in recent years but this is still a matchup that OC should be favored in.
THE OPPONENT - LAS VEGAS LIGHTS FC
What is there to say about Las Vegas that has not been said a few times. To only say that they have struggled on the field for really 8 of their 9 years of existence would be putting it nicely. But they have been somewhat more respectable since new ownership took over before the 2024 season. This was a team who did not even sniff the postseason from 2018-2023 that found themselves in the 2024 Western Conference Finals. But failure to qualify for the postseason in 2025 and another skittish start in 2026 makes 2024 look like a perfect storm. As it stands, Las Vegas sit 9th in the Western Conference on 15 points. This may be misleading however when considering that those 15 points are only 5 back of Orange County’s 20. In more a testament of how evenly balanced the West is every team ranked 4 through 10 all have four wins. But Las Vegas are a team who is in good form at the moment on a nice three game unbeaten run. They perhaps had one of their most impressive performances with a 2-0 win over Colorado Springs in late May to kick off the run.
While last week’s opponent New Mexico struggled in scoring goals (convenient) Las Vegas is the opposite with a respectable offense being held back by a defense that has conceded 20 goals. That mark is 3rd worst in the Western Conference. Funnily enough Orange County has yet to defeat Las Vegas at Cashman Field in the Jose Bautista era.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Helping Las Vegas in their 3 game unbeaten run, Christian Pinzon has made Las Vegas his own with 2026 being his third year with the club. He has put up respectable numbers in that time as well having a say in 16 goals in 54 appearances (7 goals, 9 assists). It was Pinzon’s fourth assist that came in the match against Birmingham to put into a 9-way tie for the golden playmaker award. The four assists to this point in the season are already a career high as well and we are not even halfway through the year. The midfielder who is from the Los Angeles metro area will be the one to mark.
On the orange side of things is another midfielder who is apart of that 9 man club of assists leaders in Chris Hegardt. It was Hegardt’s pass into the box that lead to the OC equalizer last week and that same assist that also put him into the race. Hegardt does have a bit more pedigree than Pinzon with Chris having 29 career assists in what is going into year 7. Like Pinzon is leaving his mark on Las Vegas, Hegardt is also turning into an Orange County SC leader. I do not think his importance to the team can be overstated. He is one of the better midfielders who also gives Orange County some physicality with his play. Hegardt is the type of player who if he were on any other team it would be annoying to play against but with Orange County he is a fan favorite.
PREDICTED STARTING XI
We are starting to notice a trend with the lineups that Orange County fields and how it changes as the game goes along. It has been fairly the same lineup each and every time too with only one player really being lost for the entire season in Mataeo Bunbury.
If I had the same about who plays tomorrow in Las Vegas, this is who I would field. We have lately been seeing Ousmane Sylla play much higher up the pitch and it is with good reason too as he has been the most dangerous player on the pitch and has had a knack for scoring some important goals. Another player who I have also liked in their short stint has been Brandon Cambridge. Cambridge on loan has looked like a true winger that offers speed and serves as a dangerous last man. The midfield depth is starting to get tested a bit with the health of guys like Partida and War being not known. If anything the defense has been pretty easy to predict with the only variable being Tyson Espy. Alex Rando will get the start against his former side.
THE MATCHUP
A sneaky important matchup for both teams gets the national primetime slot on Paramount Plus. This is Orange County’s second time this season replaying a team and they will look to get back to winning ways. Orange County is already on the backend of their summer road trip and after Saturday will make their first trip out East to face a triplet of teams out there. A win would do wonders for the confidence level of both the team and the coaching staff and they certainly have the players able to do it. The key for Orange County will be the defense. In this mini slump of theirs they have been able to score at least a goal in every game whether they are home or away. However the defense desperately needs a bounce back game and they kind of got it last week only conceding one goal against New Mexico but it was not enough for a win. Orange County does not need both facets of the team to be perfect to win games; they only need one. I do not care which side of the ball it is but at the moment they are going to have to play a 9/10 game to win at the moment. They have yet to win a game on the road on this lengthy trip but Saturday night could be their best chance to do it.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - @ Las Vegas Lights FC (USL Championship)
When - June 20th, 7:30 PM PST
Where - Cashman Field (Las Vegas, NV)
OCSC Form - DLWLD
LVL Form - WLDWL
All-Time Series - 11-5-6 (22 Games)
TV - CBS Sports Network