The defending USL Championship title holders Orange County SC will open their 2022 USL Championship season home schedule on Saturday, March 19, the league announced today. OCSC will welcome Western Conference foes Rio Grande Valley FC to Championship Soccer Stadium in Irvine.

Head coach Richard Chaplow and his team will defend their home field against an RGVFC squad that reached the Western Conference Semifinal under head coach Wilmer Cabrera after finishing fourth in the Mountain Division last season. 

OCSC and RGVFC faced each other once during the 2021 regular season with the South Texas team winning 2-0 in Irvine. After dropping the mid-July clash, OCSC trails 3-5-2 all-time against RGVFC.

Historically, OCSC is 3-6-2 in their home openers. However, OCSC has gone 2-1-1 in home openers since moving to Championship Soccer Stadium including last season’s 1-0 victory against Sacramento Republic FC. OCSC is undefeated in their last six home matches with half of them coming in their unprecedented playoff run.

The remaining USL Championship regular season schedule will be announced Wednesday, Jan 12. The national television schedule  will feature games on ESPN’s family of networks and will be released in the coming weeks.