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
FoundedDecember 7, 2010 (2010-12-07), as Los Angeles Blues
StadiumChampionship Soccer Stadium
Irvine, California
Capacity5,488
OwnerJames Keston
CoachBraeden Cloutier
LeagueUSL Championship
20195th, Western Conference
Playoffs: Conference Quarterfinals
WebsiteClub website

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

Players and staff

Current roster
As of February 25, 2020[13]
No. Position Player Nation
1 Goalkeeper Frederik Due  Denmark
2 Defender Kevin Alston  United States
3 Defender Matthew Shiels (on loan from Rangers)  Scotland
4 Defender Rob Kiernan  Ireland
5 Defender Blake Malone  United States
6 Defender Michael Orozco  United States
7 Forward Thomas Enevoldsen  Denmark
8 Midfielder Seth Casiple  United States
9 Forward Sean Okoli  United States
11 Midfielder Harry Forrester  England
12 Midfielder Daniel Crisostomo  United States
14 Midfielder Aodhan Quinn  United States
15 Defender Danny Finlayson (on loan from Rangers)  Northern Ireland
16 Forward Kevin Coleman  United States
17 Forward Darwin Jones  United States
18 Midfielder Cammy Palmer (on loan from Rangers)  Northern Ireland
20 Midfielder Brian Iloski  United States
21 Midfielder Francis Jacobs  United States
22 Defender Nathan Smith  United States
24 Goalkeeper Daniel Faundez  United States
25 Goalkeeper Aaron Cervantes  United States
27 Midfielder Edson Alvarado  United States
33 Forward Diego Lopez  United States
— Defender 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

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

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. Staff, USLSoccer.com (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.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Scott French (April 13, 2012). L.A. BLUES: Starting over, with a plan. ESPNLosAngeles.com.
  9. Staff, USLSoccer.com (December 7, 2016). "LAFC, Orange County Blues FC Announce Multi-Year Partnership". United Soccer League. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  10. Staff, MLSSoccer.com (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 roster". OrangeCountySoccer.com. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  14. 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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