Through rose tinted glasses, 3 points is still 3 points regardless of how you earn them. Orange County SC got back to winning ways with another 3-2 victory over a Western Conference opponent. It was a very welcome sight to not only have the offense continue to roll but more the manner of who scored the goals.
It was a very hot, scorching Las Vegas night that Orange County would face off against the Lights in the return fixture. In the first match of the year which was both teams opening matchup, Orange County were the better team yet were unable to really get ahead of Las Vegas and that game ended up a 1-1 draw. However tonight would be different in how the game would unfold and defense being optional. Looking at the big picture, Orange County’s win on Saturday propelled them to the top of the Western Conference for the first time this season. They have a two point advantage over both Oakland and San Antonio. After Wednesday, all three teams will be even in matches played at 14.
Before we can look more in depth at the table and the road to the postseason, Orange County used its offense to earn a road victory and a much needed one at that.
FIRST HALF
For the scoreline being as offensive as it is, the first half was really not that chaotic for Orange County’s sake. It would be the visitors who would have to unfortunately make a very early sub with Grayson Doody picking up a knock. He would be replaced by Efren Solis in the 29th minute. A half hour would pass and the story of this game was the play of both goalkeepers who both would come up with incredible saves throughout the game.
Las Vegas’ Mason Stajduhar would make the first big save of the match and one that Ousmane Sylla would love to have back. Ciotta would pass the ball to Sylla who would beat one man and found himself right in the middle of the box but his low shot would get parried wide. To further make things interesting, Las Vegas would be the ones to open the scoring with Oalex Anderson getting his head on the end of a Pinzon cross and heading home the opener. It looked like another game where Orange County had trouble scoring goals and then give up a fairly easy goal on the other end.
But perhaps we are seeing this team improve and mature as they would quickly find the equalizer in the 45th minute. With Anderson scoring for Las Vegas in the 38th minute, Stephen Kelly would put a lofted ball over the backline to Lyam MacKinnon. His one-on-one effort would beat Stajduhar and MacKinnon would score another goal against Las Vegas in a fairly similar manner too. So Orange County would go into the break with the momentum and the game being tied 1-1.
SECOND HALF
The story of this game would be the play of the goalkeepers. Ultimately Stajduhar's play in the first half would be pivotal to the game but it was also a Stajduhar error that lead to the second Orange County goal. In the 55th minute, Stajduhar and his center back Aaron Guillen were both caught being indecisive. Guillen’s header back to Stajduhar happened while he was outside of the box. If anyone gained something from this exchange it was Yaniz Bazini who would pick the ball up and score on the open net. Perhaps the easiest goal of his career. Orange County now had scored two goals and both would come from forwards. Sure the Bazini goal was the result of a mistake but sometimes teams need to see just one goal go in before they score in bunches.
With the match now at 2-1 in favor of Orange County, they were expected to hold the lead. Of course this was not the case and it would be Johnny Rodriguez scoring his first goal of the season. Alex Rando I would say this season has had a fine year. It was Rando who got his USL Championship start with Las Vegas. If you know anything about early Las Vegas Lights they were not known for being very good, so the point is Rando faced a lot of shots on goal during his time with Las Vegas. Rando this season has stolen some games for Orange County and has also found himself the center of attention for the wrong reasons. So when Garrison Tubbs would score his first Orange County after a corner kick scramble in the 76th minute, it was up to Rando to keep the lead.
It was Alex Rando who would do just that too with a couple of heroic saves late in the game. His double save in particular was the game saver in added time in the second half. It was not a pretty game for Orange County with two of their goals being quite grimy. Also not to mention that both goals conceded could have been headed away in the buildup to them. However with wins being a premium then you take them however you can and I think OC felt the same way walking away with a 3-2 win.
OVERVIEW
This was the first regular season win of the summer road trip and it could not have come a moment too late. As mentioned before, the Western Conference is starting to come together a bit and Orange County find themselves right at the top. The gap between them and the other teams is not very big however and they will have a very short turnaround with the next game coming this Wednesday.
For the first time this season, Orange County will play some Eastern Conference teams and get to do it on the road as well. Orange County were one of the handful of teams who had a game in hand but that will be made up with the midweek game. Wednesday’s game is also the only game for Orange County this week with nothing over the weekend. We now have to look at the health of Grayson Doody and really a number of veteran players but the train keeps rolling.
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