The Orange County regiment led by Colonel Alex Rando had been through a long and cruel ground campaign. What started in the deserts of the American Southwest has worked its way to the Eastern seaboard. It was a two month strategic march that worked its way across the country. The County boys were a tired and damaged group taking on numerous casualties in the battles of Miami and Pawtucket. They still found themselves in the New England colonies knowing that their long endless summer was coming to an end. In harsh weather they successfully held the noisy Rhode Island FC to a 1-1 draw but had to make camp in the city of Hartford, CT. Their evac flight back to Southern California was en route but would not come for another 90 minutes. Then in the midst before the OC camp came an army of green clad soldiers. After the opening salvo by Orange County’s cannons dealt two devastating blows, the Hartford Athletic army laid siege on the Orange County goal. There were casualties, there were goals conceded, there were players playing out of position and there was a 90-minute effort by Orange County that was rewarded by a 2-2 draw. Orange County looked like they had just gone 12 rounds with one hand tied behind their back against a heavyweight boxer.
Stephen Kelly
It was known going into Saturday’s matchup against Hartford Athletic was going to be a grueling one. However I will give credit to the team that was fielded by giving us a nearly perfect outing by earning a point. Orange County only used 12 players in the Rhode Island game and it looked to be something similar against Hartford. But Orange County had one of their best halves of the season in the first 45 going up 2-0. Unfortunately it looked as if the fatigue and injuries would catch up to them and they would concede twice in the last half hour and settle for a point.
FIRST HALF
The opening lineup was truthfully made up of whichever players were still left standing. Apolo Marinch would get the start in the midfield on the right wing. He was one of three youth players getting the start alongside Efren Solis and Nicola Ciotta. The Orange County story of the match that should be remembered was the play of these three individuals who all put in very solid efforts. I am going to give praise to a number of players from this match but this was one game where Orange County’s trust in the academy players really paid off.
Orange County SC looked like the number one team in the West in the first half. Unlike in previous seasons, Orange County looks very good when the midfield has possession of the ball moving the ball up the field. The four man midfield of Solis, Sylla, Kelly and Hegardt found all the open space and punished Hartford for it. It only took 9 minutes for Stephen Kelly to receive a Ciotta cross into the box and strike it far post past Siaha to open the scoring. A dream start would get even dreamier when just 8 minutes later it was Ousmane Sylla who would get a pass from Ciotta and with his dribbling would attack the Hartford backline, drop a defender and slot home another. Before 20 minutes had passed, Orange County had gotten two goals from its two central midfielders. Mind you this was the number one ranked defense in the entire USL Championship.
But Orange County on defense love to sit back in a sort of bend but don't break style. This would not be an issue in the first half but will come back later. Orange County SC had looked to score a third goal with Kelly getting a Marinch pass on a counter attack. However the ref blew the play dead for a Marinch foul in the buildup. This was a bit questionable. However, Orange County would be reminded of their fitness situation.
Right at the end of the first half, Ciotta would be on the end of a collision that would send him falling to the ground on his head. A bit of a scary situation that would see Ciotta being subbed off unfortunately. Remember Orange County already does not have much depth. But if there was one third of the pitch where it would hit the most is the defense. This was a backline that was down to its 3rd string right back, second string left back, and had to bring in Garrison Tubbs on loan for the centerback position. Nico Benalcazar who can play a multitude of positions but is more of a midfielder is already at left back. So when Nicola Ciotta had to come out, the club would bring on Ethan Zubak and it would be Efren Solis who would go in at right back. As far as I am aware this was Efren’s first time playing defense professionally. He would have to move over and play a full game on top of that. So with Zubak coming on earlier than anticipated this left Jamir Johnson as the only outfield player with regular rotation left on the bench. Joining alongside him was a 25-day contract midfielder, 3 academy players, and Kadono. Orange County would go into the break up 2-0.
SECOND HALF
Playing one game on the road with no subs and in a different timezone is tough enough for professionals. Playing two games with the second game being that much more grueling is not going to be fun. If Orange County were the dominant team in the first half, it would be Hartford’s turn in the second half. Hartford was a team that had numerous issues scoring goals. So much so that they had not scored a home goal since early May. Hartford knew this and when the forwards on the pitch were still not scoring they were fairly quick to make changes. Thus in the 60th minute, Hartford would bring on Barry Coffey for the last half hour and immediately he could smell blood in the water. About 9 minutes later it would be Coffey who would corral the ball out the top of the 18 and would fire a low shot past Alex Rando to get on the board for Hartford. As much as Alex Rando and the defense had cleared away chances and blocked shots from Hartford they were bound to concede. Orange County now had to defend a one goal lead for 20 minutes.
Hartford knew that Orange County were limited in their offensive prowess and were simply resigned to playing very deep defensively. On any other night under any other circumstance I would criticize this but knowing how fatigued everyone was gives this a pass. Hartford did not play a perfect half either and would give up the ball in some pretty dangerous spots of the pitch but Orange County were not able to find a third goal. Even with Jamir Johnson eventually coming on for Apolo Marinch, the offense for Orange County sputtered a bit. This put all the pressure on the defense and Rando. Alex Rando is named in the opening paragraph and that is for good reason. It was Alex Rando who would make 5 saves on the night on top of doing very well in parrying crosses and buying the OC backline time to breath. Even though the scoreline would not suggest it, this was one of Rando’s best games as the OC keeper. The second goal would come in the 85th minute when Coffey again was able to get on the end of a cross and slot it home. This was perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back because Danny Stone would have to make a sub eventually and it would lead to the OC debut of Josh Martinez, the 25 day contract signing. Alex Rando would have to make one more save in stoppage time and thanks to him and the OC backline the match would end 2-2.
OVERVIEW
There are three guarantees that come from the Hartford game. The first one is that Orange County extended their streak of scoring in games to 11 consecutive across all competitions, that is a new club record. The second thing that comes as a result of the goal scoring streak is that Orange County have only lost two league games all season which ties them for the least with San Antonio and Tampa Bay. This should be just one loss but mental mistakes in Sacramento occurred. Nonetheless, Orange County is a very difficult team to beat. The third and most interesting of the guarantees is that we are going to see a very creative lineup on Saturday against Colorado Springs. For Orange County’s grand return back to Championship Soccer Stadium they will host the Switchbacks for the fourth and final USL League Cup group stage. If there ever was a more perfect time to play the academy team then Saturday then I do not know what is. This could not have come at a greater time too because not only does Orange County get essentially a bye week with the tournament game but they also get an official off week next weekend as well. We know Orange County SC are one of the best teams in the league but they still need healthy players for that so here is to hoping that everyone gets much needed rest and recovery. Plus, Saturday will serve as an opportunity for younger players to get playing time and show what they can provide. When Orange County SC do return to league play it will be July 25th on the road (haha) against Monterey Bay FC.