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Orange County Holds Off San Antonio

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 04/14/18, 10:51PM EDT

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Rawls’ eight-save shutout key as visitors take 3-0 victory before 6,090


Photo courtesy Darren Abate / San Antonio FC

SAN ANTONIO – Orange County SC took its fourth consecutive win as it recorded a 3-0 victory against San Antonio FC before a crowd of 6,090 fans at Toyota Field on Saturday night. SAFC produced the first good chance of the game as Kris Tyrpak’s shot was parried away by Orange County goalkeeper Andre Rawls, and the hosts continued to threaten throughout the first half. Rawls made a diving save to keep out a header by San Antonio’s Ever Guzman, while a long-range strike by Ryan Roushandel four minutes before halftime was also tipped over the crossbar. Orange County didn’t create much before the break, but three minutes into the second half took the lead as Koji Hashimoto scored off a free kick from 30 yards into the top-left corner of the net. San Antonio almost hit back immediately as Rawls first saved from Tyrpak before Rafa Castillo hit the crossbar on the rebound, while Orange County almost doubled its lead on the hour-mark as Mats Bjurman’s shot was cleared off the line by Pecka. San Antonio hit the woodwork again in the 68th minute as Roushandel’s header came off the right post, but Orange County put away the victory with two goals in the final six minutes as Thomas Enevoldsen first found the net himself and then set up Giovanni Godoy to wrap up a fourth consecutive win.

Scoring:
48’ – OC – Koji Hashimoto
84’ – OC – Thomas Enevoldsen (Mark Segbers)
86’ – OC – Giovanni Godoy (Thomas Enevoldsen)

Three Things That Matter:

  • 1. Orange County SC rode its luck at time, but in the end was clinical late on to pull away with a fourth consecutive victory and fourth consecutive shutout to continue its impressive start to the season. A tremendous goal by Koji Hashimoto gave the visitors the goal they’d need, but Andre Rawls ended up the star of the show as he consistently thwarted San Antonio’s attack with an eight-save shutout that allowed Orange County to return to the west coast with arguably their most impressive victory of the season.

  • 2. San Antonio carried plenty of the play in either half and will likely chalk up the final score to it ending up as one of those days for its attack as the added numbers thrown forward in search of an equalizer ended up opening space for Orange County to pull away late. With only one win in its first five games, though, San Antonio will hope its luck in front of goal changes soon after a night on which it seemed nothing could quite go right.

  • 3. Orange County’s four-game winning streak matches a best in the club’s history and could provide a clue as to where this team might end up as we get further into the regular season. The last time Orange County recorded such a streak was in the 2015 USL season, when it was part of a six-game undefeated streak overall that helped the club’s push up the Western Conference in the second half of the season. That run of form helped OCSC finish on top of the Western Conference when the regular season came to an end, a position the club now holds by a point from one month into the new season.

USLSoccer.com Man of the Match

Andre Rawls, Orange County SC – Rawls recorded an eight-save shutout to keep the visitors in the game before they pulled away late for a big road victory.

Upcoming Games:

San Antonio FC at Fresno FC – April 22, 9 p.m. ET, Chukchansi Park

Orange County SC at Rio Grande Valley FC – April 25, 8 p.m. ET, H-E-B Park

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