IRVINE, Calif.- Orange County Soccer Club debuted their “After Dark” kit today in their 0-1 loss against New Mexico United ,which was also a part of their first Beer Fest of many throughout the season(including the one at the Santa Ana Stadium in May).
Within the first ten minutes, Orange County made their presence known by pressing United’s defense and racking up a total of 2 shots early and keeping a 53% possession of the ball. County really wanted to give personality to their new dark jerseys as the crowd saw a whole new team that is more aggressive and daring as it was seen with OCSC striker Lyam MacKinnon who in a span of five minutes, committed two fouls in United’s final third.
At 30 minutes, New Mexico were awarded a penalty after OC keeper Alex Rando attempted to clear a ball inside the box but knocked down New Mexico midfielder Niall Reid-Stephen without the ball near them which made the penalty valid. Reid-Stephen stepped up to shoot his awarded penalty with great confidence as he walked up in a cool, calm and collected manner. The midfielder made some stutter steps as the County crowd booed with all their might behind Rando but it was later proven to be ineffective by Reid-Stephen’s left footed shot which was sent into the left side of the net. 1-0 New Mexico lead.
Once County got their most promising play in the 46th minute, with right midfielder Kevin Partida driving closer to the net from the left flank and unleashing a fierce cross attempt, New Mexico defender Zico Bailey went in for a sliding block but had his left arm raised which appeared to have touched the flying ball in the box. Regardless, match official Thomas Snyder did not call a handball and left the first half as 1-0.
As the battle between the two continued in the second half, Orange County did not want to back down so easily with the Black and Orange attempting 3 shots by the 60th minute but dropped their possession of the ball down to 43%.
As the majority of the second half progressed, United struggled to make some new plays as they did not have the ball in County’s half for the longest until they were awarded 2 separate corners in the 80th and 82nd minute as if they wanted to keep the score and just play pure defense. Despite controlling the majority of the game, Orange County failed to convert their plays and make an equalizing move. County head coach Danny Stone explained how he saw the lack of goals not aligning with the amount of effort that is being put in by his players,”I’m not disappointed with the performance tonight. But I am disappointed that we haven’t scored goals in the game, because I felt we had chances. We got into lots of good positions, played some very good stuff to get into those situations. And the reality is that tonight, we just didn’t score,” Stone said. Final score, 1-0.
Article by Henry Caceres
Photos by Danielle Rivera
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