San Diego Loyal Deserved Better

San Diego Loyal Deserved Better

If you follow sports with the expectation of a championship, you’re going to be disappointed almost every single season. Contrary to popular belief, sports aren’t about trophies won or merchandise bought. Sports are about the memories we make with those closest to us. 5, 10, 20 years down the road, you won’t remember all the specifics of a game, but you’ll remember the feeling you had when you got to experience something special with family and friends. When the catalyst of those memories is suddenly ripped away, it can feel like a part of you has died.

August 26th, Match #26 - Orange County SC @ Sacramento Republic FC

August 26th, Match #26 - Orange County SC @ Sacramento Republic FC

Orange County SC with a win on Saturday can break a club record for most consecutive wins in the regular season. Orange County SC can further solidify a guaranteed home playoff game on Saturday. Orange County SC will face off against Sacramento Republic FC, the Western Conference leaders in points and longtime USL rival. 

The month of August has been the toughest stretch of the season by a wide margin with each opponent being in the top five of their respective conference (San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Charleston). The last opponent OC will face in August, Sacramento, will continue this trend as they are first in the Western Conference at 48 points. OC will enter the contest tied for third in the West with 40 points. 

Orange County SC will have to go for 3 points without their leading scorer Milan Iloski. Iloski picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Charleston which resulted in a one game suspension. The forward depth, which has been good for OC this season, will have a big task at hand. 

POST-MATCH REVIEW: WE CAN'T BE STOPPED

POST-MATCH REVIEW: WE CAN'T BE STOPPED

Orange County SC is looking better than ever as they completely dominated Charleston Battery this Saturday night. Not only did they defeat the top two teams in the Eastern Conference in one week, but they also earned their sixth win in a row. This squad cannot be stopped.  

POST-MATCH REVIEW: THE EAST GOT NOTHING ON US

POST-MATCH REVIEW: THE EAST GOT NOTHING ON US

Orange County SC returned home for n exciting weekday matchup against the #1 team in the Eastern Conference, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. It was a tight battle between the defense, but by the time the final whistle blew, Orange County showed they could stand with the best, earning their fifth win in a row.

August 16th, Match #24 - Orange County SC vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

August 16th, Match #24 - Orange County SC vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Orange County SC are about to embark on their toughest three-game stretch of the entire season. This will see them play not only the top two teams in the Eastern Conference but also sees a trip to Sacramento to face the first place Republic one week from Saturday. With just how tight the playoff picture is for the Western Conference, there is not much room to falter. This comes even as OC have arguably been the best team in the league for the last month or so. The Black and Orange have done enough to make up for their poor start to the season and are facing the best teams at the right time. 

The first of three feats of strength is that of Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. The current USL league leaders, the Riverhounds are on a modest three-game win streak. They will however make the cross-country trip on a short weekend to Orange County, a place they have not been to since the 2013 season. 

As for OC, who are themselves undefeated in their last four, they are coming back from a much deserved one week break. It will be 10 days since Orange County last played a match which was the 3-1 victory down in San Diego.

OCSC Points to the Playoffs July Recap/August Preview

It’s official: the boys are back in town.

OCSC defied all expectations in July, earning 12 points across 5 games, good for a 2.4 PPG pace. To illustrate just how good the team has been, consider this: in the month of April, OCSC was playing at a 0.75 PPG pace, which shakes out to 26 points over a full season. Someone must’ve forgotten to tell the team that they’re supposed to be in the dog days of summer.

Game 1 Recap: OCSC 3-1 win v. Monterey Bay FC

Game 2 Recap: OCSC 0-2 loss @ Rio Grande Valley FC

Game 3 Recap: OCSC 3-1 win @ Loudon United FC

Game 4 Recap: OCSC 4-3 win @ 901 Memphis FC

Game 5 Recap: OCSC 1-0 win v. New Mexico United

After May, the team had dug themselves into a hole that was borderline too deep to crawl out of. As the calendar flipped to June, OCSC had amassed 7 losses. 10 losses would be a caution, and 15 losses would be almost a death knell in the team’s playoff hopes. So what did they do? Over the next 9 games, they went 7-0-2 and head into the month of August still having not hit the 10-loss mark. To say the team has turned things around would be an understatement. OCSC has completely changed their identity and are unrecognizable from the team that started the season.

OCSC SD Loyal 3-1 Recap 08.05.23

OCSC SD Loyal 3-1 Recap 08.05.23

If fans still needed a reason to hop back on the Orange County bandwagon, Saturday’s match against San Diego Loyal should’ve been all the reason folks needed. Unrecognizable from the team that took the pitch for the first two months of the season, OCSC stormed into hostile territory at Torero Stadium and came away with 3 points after a decisive 3-1 victory. This brought the season point total to 34, which was good enough to leapfrog San Diego on the table and into fourth place in the West. If the playoffs began after this game, OCSC would be hosting their opponent in the first round of the playoffs. What seemed like a distant dream two months earlier has now became a distinct reality.

Orange County Soccer Club is ready for another magical run.

August 5th, Match #23 - Orange County SC @ San Diego Loyal SC

August 5th, Match #23 - Orange County SC @ San Diego Loyal SC

A rivalry, or derby in soccer, is best described as an intense competition between athletic teams or athletes. It is very safe to say that there is no love lost whenever Orange County plays San Diego. 


This will be the twelfth meeting all time between the two clubs dating back to the 2020 season and is a rivalry that has really seen everything: wins on the road, last-minute goals, sending offs, fisticuffs, the works. Both teams for the most part have remained competitive in many of their matchups and this meeting does not change. As it currently stands, San Diego are fourth in the Western Conference with 33 points while Orange County sit two points behind them in 6th. 


Both teams have had good months of June and both are going into Saturday’s game on three game win streaks. Likewise both teams are currently in the playoff mix. 


POST-MATCH REVIEW: THE SUMMER OF WINS

POST-MATCH REVIEW: THE SUMMER OF WINS

Orange County SC was back on their home turf this weekend as they continued their winning streak with the defeat of New Mexico United. Since the summer began, OCSC has won seven of their last nine matches, putting them in 6th in the Western Conference.

FIRST HALF:

Back home after three weeks of away games, Orange County SC had the momentum to come out of the gate strong this Saturday. With a sold-out stadium of thousands of fans cheering on the boys in orange, it’s no surprise that they completely dominated the first half of the match.

The critical element to this came from the midfield's ability to keep an aggressive push forward by Kyle Scott and Seth Casiple, eventually leading to the first strike on goal of the game. The squad built up possession in the middle, pulling the attention away from the wings, and opened Owen Lambe on the right side. Lambe took the ball and sent a beautiful cross where Ryan Doghman found the header. Goalkeeper Alexandros Tambakis blocked it, but the setup was lovely to see so early.


July 29, Match #22 - Orange County SC vs New Mexico United

July 29, Match #22 - Orange County SC vs New Mexico United

Orange County SC are playing their best soccer since the 2021 title-winning season. That is the best way to describe what has been an outstanding Summer spent mostly away from Irvine, CA. The Boys in Orange will finally be able to play a home game which will be their first in nearly a month.

With Orange County having a good run of form it must be noted that the majority of those good results have come against teams from the Eastern Conference. While this is a positive statistic, ultimately it boils down to how well Orange County fare against their opponents from the West as ultimately that is who they are competing with for valuable playoff spots.

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