Orange County SC
 | |||
| Full name | Orange County Soccer Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | December 7, 2010, as Los Angeles Blues | ||
| Stadium | Championship Soccer Stadium Irvine, California | ||
| Capacity | 5,488 | ||
| Owner | James Keston | ||
| Coach | Braeden Cloutier | ||
| League | USL Championship | ||
| 2019 | 5th, Western Conference Playoffs: Conference Quarterfinals | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
|
| |||
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.
The team plays its home games at Championship Soccer Stadium, located inside Great Park in Irvine, CA.
History
The then Los Angeles Blues were founded by Iranian-American businessman Ali Mansouri 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 became the USL affiliate of Los Angeles FC in a multi-year deal, which was ended after 2018.[9][10] The team later changed its name to Orange County SC and was purchased by American businessman James Keston.[2] 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]
Stadium
- Titan Stadium; Fullerton, California (2011–2013)
- Anteater Stadium; Irvine, California (2014–2016)
- Championship Soccer Stadium; Irvine, California (2017–present)
Players and staff
Current roster
- As of February 25, 2020[13]
| No. | Position | Player | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GK | Frederik Due |  Denmark
|
| 2 | DF | Kevin Alston |  United States
|
| 3 | DF | Matthew Shiels (on loan from Rangers) |  Scotland
|
| 4 | DF | Rob Kiernan |  Republic of Ireland
|
| 5 | DF | Blake Malone | United States
|
| 6 | DF | Michael Orozco | United States
|
| 7 | FW | Thomas Enevoldsen | Denmark
|
| 8 | MF | Seth Casiple | United States
|
| 9 | FW | Sean Okoli | United States
|
| 11 | MF | Harry Forrester |  England
|
| 12 | MF | Daniel Crisostomo | United States
|
| 14 | MF | Aodhan Quinn | United States
|
| 15 | DF | Danny Finlayson (on loan from Rangers) |  Northern Ireland
|
| 16 | FW | Kevin Coleman | United States
|
| 17 | FW | Darwin Jones | United States
|
| 18 | MF | Cammy Palmer (on loan from Rangers) | Northern Ireland
|
| 20 | MF | Brian Iloski | United States
|
| 21 | MF | Francis Jacobs | United States
|
| 22 | DF | Nathan Smith | United States
|
| 24 | GK | Daniel Faundez | United States
|
| 25 | GK | Aaron Cervantes | United States
|
| 27 | MF | Edson Alvarado | United States
|
| 33 | FW | Diego Lopez | United States
|
| — | DF | Kobi Henry | 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[14]
Frans Hoek – Technical director & senior advisor- Braeden Cloutier – Head coach
- Richard Chaplow – Assistant coach
- Victor Nogueira – Goalkeeping coach
Jerry Tamashiro – U23 head coach- Didier Crettenand – U23 assistant coach
Claudio Trabattoni – Strength & conditioning coach
Head coaches
- Charlie Naimo (2011–2012)
Jesus Rico-Sanz (2012–2013)
Dariush Yazdani (2013–2014)- Oliver Wyss (2014–2016)
- Barry Venison (2016)
- Logan Pause (2017)
- Braeden Cloutier (2018–present)
Record
Year-by-year
| Year | Division | League | Regular Season | Playoffs | US Open Cup | Avg. Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Blues | ||||||
| 2011 | 3 | USL Pro | 3rd, National | Divisional Semifinals | 3rd Round | 440 |
| 2012 | 3 | USL Pro | 8th | Did not qualify | 2nd Round | 687 |
| 2013 | 3 | USL Pro | 6th | Quarterfinals | 3rd Round | 718 |
| Orange County Blues FC | ||||||
| 2014 | 3 | USL Pro | 13th | Did not qualify | 2nd Round | 760 |
| 2015 | 3 | USL | 1st, Western | Conference Semifinals | 4th Round | 1,398 |
| 2016 | 3 | USL | 8th, Western | Conference Semifinals | 2nd Round | 1,010 |
| Orange County SC | ||||||
| 2017 | 2 | USL | 10th, Western | Did not qualify | 4th Round | 2,575 |
| 2018 | 2 | USL | 1st, Western | Conference Final | 2nd Round | 3,095 |
| 2019 | 2 | USL Championship | 5th, Western | Conference Quarterfinals | 2nd Round | 3,192 |
Honors
- Western Conference (Regular Season)
References
- ^ "Irvine-based soccer team changes ownership". Orange County Register. September 8, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
- ^ a b Staff, USLSoccer.com (September 8, 2016). "Blues Purchased by Southern California Businessman Keston". United Soccer League. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
- ^ "Mehrshad Momeni: Consumed by the Game". OurSports Central. August 10, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
- ^ "OC Blues 2015 Player Postmortem: Mehrshad Momeni". Angels on Parade. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
- ^ LA Blues Set to Play in USL PRO Archived December 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Los Angeles Blues Sign First Three Players". Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 23, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Scott French (April 13, 2012). L.A. BLUES: Starting over, with a plan. ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- ^ Staff, USLSoccer.com (December 7, 2016). "LAFC, Orange County Blues FC Announce Multi-Year Partnership". United Soccer League. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
- ^ Staff, MLSSoccer.com (December 14, 2018). "LAFC announce end of USL affiliation with Orange County SC". Alicia Rodriguez. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
- ^ Merk, Carson (November 4, 2018). "Record Season for Orange County Ends. Phoenix Rises". OrangeCountySoccer.com. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Orange County SC roster". OrangeCountySoccer.com. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
- ^ 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.
