This weekend Orange County SC visited The Lab, home of New Mexico United, where they left fans brokenhearted and fearful that this could very well be a repeat of last season’s disaster.
**Note from the editor: This article was written prior to the departure of Head Coach Richard Chaplow, and does not otherwise mention this news.
With OC bumped from the Open Cup, all of their attention now shifts to the league.
Through seven league games, Orange County have only played a fellow Western Conference opponent in only two of those games. The start of the season has seen new matchups along with sophomore showdowns but now OC will set to duel with a more familiar Western Conference opponent, New Mexico United.
Orange County so far into league play currently sit in 9th on 6 points which is one short of the playoff line while their counterparts New Mexico sit further back at 11th on 4 points.
With the third round of the US Open Cup comes the appearance for a number of MLS teams, and Orange County gets to face one.
As part of the “Pacific” group, OC was placed in the same pool as Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders FC, and San Diego Loyal SC and ultimately drew with the Timbers as the visiting team. While not the hardest possible draw, it will still take a complete team effort in order to pull off the upset.
Orange County will look to continue on last week’s first win of the 2023 USL Championship season.
It took OC six games to earn their first victory, and the team now set their sights on another visiting Eastern Conference club, Birmingham Legion FC. This game will be the first ever meeting between Orange County and Birmingham, with the visitors coming in currently sitting third in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile OC sit in 9th just one point back of the playoff line.
Orange County return home for matchday 6, and will host the Indy Eleven in an inter-conference bout.
It has not been the start that either team had hoped for to their 2023 seasons. For the Boys in Orange, this Saturday will serve as another opportunity to pick up their first victory. For Indy, they will look to get back in the win column after an equally lackluster start. As it stands, Orange County are currently 0-3-2 and sit at 11th in the Western Conference. It may be a long season, but points become much more valuable as the season goes.
Orange County SC had their second away game of the season on Saturday, continuing their frustrating start to the season with a loss to the El Paso Locomotive.
Whoever wins this game will get a much needed boost while the loser will be left struggling to find answers.
After Orange County easily dispatched their first Open Cup matchup on Wednesday, Orange County will head out to West Texas to take on El Paso Locomotive FC. This will be OC’s first trip to the Lone Star state in 2023 and they will be doing so with the intention of winning their first league game.
