Orange County left North Carolina with a 22-7 shot advantage, and the defense held NCFC to one goal. You would think that would be enough.
FIRST HALF:
Nearly the same lineup that won the match last week against Tulsa took the field against North Carolina. It was really the right move to do, that team looked very strong holding Tulsa to one clear chance all game and Lyam MacKinnon broke out and scored two goals.
North Carolina, on the other hand, had to shuffle their cards a bit. Because of this their leading goal scorer Evan Conway did not get the start.
The offense for Orange County would get their first big opportunity of the match in the 15th minute when Bryce Jamison got on the end of a MacKinnon pass. The winger had his 12 yard shot saved quite nicely by NCFC keeper, Jake McGuire, who tipped the shot over the crossbar.
Jamison would get another chance a handful of minutes later as he found himself one on one with McGuire, but his shot went hopelessly wide left. There were a number of set piece opportunities for Orange County coming via corners and direct free kicks. Nico Benalcazar nearly buried a volley when he was left unmarked, but pulled his shot too far wide. Orange County looked dangerous.
Then North Carolina scored completely against the run of play.
In the 45’ minute North Carolina found themselves with possession of the ball, and Mikey Maldonado made a run down the far side. Kevin Partida stepped up in an attempt to put Maldonado offside, but the rest of the defense did not follow him. As such, Maldonado was free to slide his pass right onto the edge of the six yard box, past a sliding Tom Brewitt. The ball was slotted away nicely by Rodrigo da Costa. There were a number of defensive miscues leading up to the goal with a number of players being quite aggressive and ultimately getting burned for it. It was one of just two shots on goal all game for North Carolina.
The pressure was on for Orange County to answer back.
SECOND HALF:
The second half took place right where Orange County had left off, with OC dominating the ball. By this point it was becoming a bit more apparent what the plan for both teams was moving forward. Orange County began pushing further up the pitch, with all three lines getting into the offensive action. North Carolina was content with this and started prepping their defense and midfield to weather the storm.
In the 58th minute, against the hosts’ back line, Cameron Dunbar was able to put a header on target at the back post, but his effort was smothered by McGuire. Dunbar, feeling a bit confident, was able to benefit from a newly subbed on Chris Hegardt forced North Carolina turnover about four minutes later, but fired his shot from outside the box just wide of the goal.
This is about the point where the managerial chess match began, and Danny Stone was the first to move. He opted to sub out Bryce Jamison and Vuk Latinovich for Tristan Trager and aforementioned Chris Hegardt, respectively.
Moments later, NCFC coach John Bradford made his first subs of the night, switching out offensive minded players for defense and taking off one midfielder for a defender. The chess match would continue with all of Dunbar, Partida and Scott being subbed off for Barjolo, Zubak and Miles. Partida would also pick up his signature yellow card shortly before being subbed off.
By this point, North Carolina were playing a back five while Orange County threw numbers forward.
But Orange County kept settling for shots from distance. It would take until the second half stoppage time for Orange County to get more good opportunities. Perhaps the best of the bunch would be Tom Brewitt, whose header from a corner was again saved by McGuire.
But Orange County couldn’t find an answer and lost 1-0 to North Carolina for the second consecutive season.
OVERVIEW:
The biggest takeaway from the defeat to North Carolina, among many things, is the fact that Orange County cannot rely on having one good third carry the load for them in games. It was expected before the season that the offense would be the one outscoring opponents and giving the defense some breathing room. That unfortunately has not been the case for a majority of games.
Orange County has still yet to register a clean sheet in any competitive game this year. This should not be that big of a surprise and they have had plenty of opportunities to earn that (Las Vegas away and Tulsa last week come to mind) but for OCSC to win games is going to require an almost perfect game from each and every position group on the field. The Orange County wins this season have proven this to be true.
If there is one consolation from this game is the fact that Lyam MacKinnon is finding ways to force saves from opposing keepers. Orange County did force Jake McGuire to make a couple of difficult saves and he did step up to the task. I cannot in good faith blame this loss or many losses on Colin Shutler either. I will not even get into Orange County’s poor record away from home.
In saying that, Orange County have looked to put their injury woes aside with the only player out being Ousmane Sylla. The right players are starting to look better and better with each game. Plus Orange County is still only 7th in the West and just 6 points off of San Antonio for first place. This is all happening with Orange County playing sub-par for their standards.
Orange County SC are still 3-1-1 at home in league play and will get their next opportunity to improve that on Saturday, May 17th, at home against New Mexico United.