Orange County SC

Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California suburb of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship.

For the USL League 2 team, see Orange County SC U-23.

Orange County SC
Full nameOrange County Soccer Club
Founded1998, as Los Angeles Blues
StadiumChampionship Soccer Stadium
Irvine, California
Capacity5,488
OwnerJames Keston
CoachRichard Chaplow
LeagueUSL Championship
20212nd, Pacific Division
3rd, Western Conference
Playoffs: Champions
WebsiteClub website

The team plays its home games at Championship Soccer Stadium, located inside Great Park in Irvine.

History

The then Los Angeles Blues were founded by Iranian-American businessman Ali Mansouri in 1998 and announced as a USL Pro expansion franchise on December 7, 2010.[1][2][3][4][5] The team was associated with the United Soccer Leagues W-League team LA Blues, and is part of the larger Orange County Blues organization, which has competed in Los Angeles-area amateur leagues since 1998. They introduced their first three players—goalkeeper Oscar Dautt and midfielders Cesar Rivera and Josh Tudela—at a formal launch event on December 14, 2010.[6]

After an extensive pre-season, the Blues played their first games in the Caribbean over the weekend of April 15–17, 2011, a 3–0 victory over Sevilla Puerto Rico, and a 2–1 victory over Antigua Barracuda. The first goal in franchise history was scored by Cesar Rivera.[7]

In January 2012, the Blues announced the hiring of Steve Donner (formerly CEO of Orlando City) as vice president of business operations to focus on improving marketing for the club and to bring professionalism to the front-office.[8] The first game of the 2012 season reflected these efforts with a 2,432 attendance compared to 696 for the first home game in 2011 (the Blues averaged 382 during the 2011 season).

In 2016, the team was purchased by American businessman James Keston, rebranded to Orange County SC.[2] Prior to the 2017 season, Orange County became the USL affiliate of Los Angeles FC in a multi-year deal, which was ended after 2018.[9][10] The team won the Western Conference Regular Season Title in 2018 with 20 Wins, 8 losses and 6 ties. They defeated Saint Louis FC and Reno 1868 FC before losing 2–1 to Phoenix Rising FC in the Western Conference Final.[11] Thomas Enevoldsen scored 20 goals and was named to the All-League First Team along with Aodhan Quinn.[12]

In the 2021 season, Head Coach Braden Cloutier was dismissed mid-season and replaced by Assistant Coach Richard Chaplow.[13] OCSC went on to finish second in the Pacific Division, and advance to the USL Championship Final defeating Tampa Bay Rowdies at home, 3-1 in regulation.[14]

Stadium

Players and staff

Current roster
As of March 17, 2022[15]
No. Pos. Player Nation
1 GK Patrick Rakovsky  Germany
3 MF Alex Villanueva  United States
4 DF Rob Kiernan  Republic of Ireland
5 DF Blake Malone  United States
6 DF Michael Orozco  United States
7 FW Milan Iloski  United States
8 MF Seth Casiple  United States
9 FW Erick Torres  Mexico
10 MF Brian Iloski  United States
12 MF Daniel Pedersen  Denmark
13 MF Tommy McCabe  United States
14 MF Tony Rocha  Belize
15 MF Kevin Partida  United States
16 DF Brent Richards  United States
18 FW Korede Osundina  United States
19 FW Sean Okoli  United States
20 GK Colin Shutler  United States
21 MF Francis Jacobs  United States
22 DF Albi Skendi  Albania
23 DF Kobi Henry  United States
24 DF Danilo Acosta  Honduras
25 MF Mikko Kuningas  Finland
27 DF Hunter Gorskie  United States

Front office and technical staff
  • Oliver Wyss – General Manager & President of Soccer Operations
  • Peter Nugent – Assistant General Manager & Senior Vice President of Player Recruitment & Soccer Operations
  • Jeff Garner - President of Business Operations[16]
  • Frans Hoek – Technical Director & Senior Advisor
  • Richard Chaplow – Head Coach
  • Robert Earnshaw – Assistant Coach
  • Victor Nogueira – Goalkeeping Coach
  • Jerry Tamashiro – U23 Head Coach
  • Didier Crettenand – U23 Assistant Coach
  • Claudio Trabattoni – Strength & Conditioning Coach

Head coaches

Record

Year-by-year
Main article: List of Orange County SC seasons

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the club. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Orange County SC seasons.

Season League Position Playoffs USOC Continental / Other Average attendance Top goalscorer(s)
Div League Pld W L D GF GA GD Pts PPG Conf. Overall Name Goals
2016 3 USL 30121443941−240 1.33 8th 15th QF R2 DNQ 1,010 Trevin Caesar10
2017 2 USL 321111104347–443 1.34 10th 18th DNQ R4 2,575 Irvin Parra11
2018 USL 34 20 8 6 70 40 +30 66 1.94 1st 2nd SF R2 3,095 Thomas Enevoldsen 21
2019 USLC 34151095443+1154 1.59 5th 12th R1 R2 3,192 Michael Seaton
Darwin Jones		13
2020 USLC 167631818024 1.50 9th 17th DNQ NH 3,188 Sean Okoli7
2021 USLC 32 15 10 7 44 37 +7 52 1.625 2nd 7th W NH 3,302 Ronaldo Damus 16

^ 1. Avg. Attendance include statistics from league matches only.
^ 2. Top Goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in league play, playoffs, U.S. Open Cup, and other competitive matches.

Honors

USL Championship

USL Championship Western Conference (playoffs)

USL Championship Western Conference (regular season)

References
  1. "Irvine-based soccer team changes ownership". Orange County Register. September 8, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  2. USLSoccer.com Staff (September 8, 2016). "Blues Purchased by Southern California Businessman Keston". United Soccer League. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  3. "Mehrshad Momeni: Consumed by the Game". OurSports Central. August 10, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  4. "OC Blues 2015 Player Postmortem: Mehrshad Momeni". Angels on Parade. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  5. LA Blues Set to Play in USL PRO Archived December 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Los Angeles Blues Sign First Three Players". Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 23, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Scott French (April 13, 2012). L.A. BLUES: Starting over, with a plan. ESPNLosAngeles.com.
  9. USLSoccer.com Staff (December 7, 2016). "LAFC, Orange County Blues FC Announce Multi-Year Partnership". United Soccer League. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  10. MLSSoccer.com Staff (December 14, 2018). "LAFC announce end of USL affiliation with Orange County SC". Alicia Rodriguez. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  11. Merk, Carson (November 4, 2018). "Record Season for Orange County Ends. Phoenix Rises". OrangeCountySoccer.com. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  12. "Orange County SC Aodhan Quinn and Thomas Enevoldsen Named to 2018 USL All-League First Team". Orange County SC Staff. OrangeCountySoccer.com. November 5, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  13. "Orange County SC dismiss head coach Braeden Cloutier".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "Orange County SC drops Rowdies to win its first USL Championship title - SBI Soccer". sbisoccer.com. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  15. "Roster". Orange County Soccer Club. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  16. Communications, Orange County SC (June 12, 2019). "ORANGE COUNTY SOCCER CLUB NAMES JEFF GARNER TEAM PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS". Orange County Soccer Club. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
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