Orange County Soccer Club took their unbeaten streak to the heat of Arizona to take on Phoenix Rising FC who had won four games since last losing to OCSC in Irvine. Orange County hoped to start out well on the road, but Phoenix had other ideas.

In just the 6th minute, Phoenix put a ball toward the Orange County 18 yard box and Kevin Alston jumped to play the ball. He got his knee on the cross, but it took a bounce off his chest and away from OCSC keeper Patrick McLain and Phoenix found themselves up a goal.

The 13th minute found Vinicius in on goal again and he was one on one with Phoenix keeper Zac Lubin. Vinicius tried to put the ball by him, but the ball bounced away harmlessly and OC remained down a goal.

Four minutes later, in the 17th minute, Phoenix had a good build up and Adam Jahn found Joey Calistri, who slotted the ball in and put Phoenix up by two.

From then on, Orange County defended well and kept Phoenix at bay for the rest of the first half. At the other end of the pitch, OCSC had a few chances on goal but couldn’t find a ball that would challenge Zubin, including two attempts from Aodhan Quinn. The half ended with an OC blitz, but no shot found its way through and the teams went into the half separated by two.

The second half did not go Orange County’s way either. In the 50th minute, a bad clear attempt landed at Solomon Asante’s feet and he caught McLain off his line and immediately chipped it over for the third goal of the night.

Orange County fought hard in the desert heat, but they could never find the finishing touch in front of goal. In what was a frustrating night for the team, Aodhan Quinn said that the play “wasn’t good enough. We didn’t come out with enough energy, and there needs to be a change going into next week.”

Scoring:

7’: Kevin Alston (Own Goal)

17’ Joey Calistri (Adam Jahn)

50’: Solomon Asante

Discipline:

19’: Daniel Crisostomo (Yellow)

37’: Vinicius (Yellow)

60’: Doueugui Mala (Yellow)

69’: James Musa (Yellow)