Aztex Travel to Take on Orange County
August 6, 2015 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Austin Aztex News Release
AUSTIN, Texas (August 6, 2015)- The Austin Aztex (7-10-3) will travel to California to face Orange County Blues FC (9-8-3) in a match with major playoff implications.
Austin, sitting in 10th place and seven points out of the playoffs, will hope to bounce back from last weekend's loss to Portland and get a much needed three points. Orange County comes into the match coming off two straight wins, and are undefeated in their last four outings. A single point out of the playoffs, and with four teams within six points of them, the Blues will be looking to distance themselves from the pack on Saturday. This is the first meeting of the season between these two clubs, who will face off again in just two weeks in Austin.
In their inaugural pro season, the Aztex have gone through many trials and tribulations as they compete to find their identity and compete for a playoff spot. After two straight wins over Arizona United SC, the team pulled themselves to within a few points out of the playoffs. One loss to Portland later, the Aztex are seven points out of sixth place with eight games remaining, all versus teams above the Aztex in the standings.
A focus for Austin will be turning offensive chances into goals. The Aztex are 11th in the league in shots but 18th in goals. Last Saturday's loss to Portland was marked by several close chances for Austin that came up just short. The team will look to forwards Kris Tyrpak, Trevin Caesar, Sainey Touray and recent addition to the team Romain Gall to finish scoring opportunities and right the ship. Coach Paul Dalglish has been playing a more aggressive style of play in hopes of ramping up offensive production.
Defensively, the Aztex have been solid and boast the 9th best defense in the league with 26 goals allowed. However, they will be without defender Mikey Ambrose, who received a straight red card following an extra time altercation in last weekend's loss to Portland. Ambrose has started 18 games this season, third most on the team. Brian Fekete, Leone Cruz and a game-time decision Fernando Timbo could all be called upon to join Lance Rozeboom and Max Gunderson on the back line. Goalkeeper Devin Perales, who boasts the league's 5th best goals-against-average and shutouts per game, will be looking to pick up his 6th shutout of the season.
Orange County comes into Saturday's matchup on a roll, winners of their last two matches and without a loss since July 9th. The Blues attribute 78% of their goals on the season coming off assists, one of the league's highest ratios. The attack is led by midfielders Didier Crettenand, Denzel Slager and Seung Ju Kim, as well as forward Christofer Ramirez. However, Ramirez will be out of the game due to an accumulation of yellow cards. Orange County will also be without defender Brenton Griffiths, who is under a two game suspension and starting goalkeeper Pepe Miranda, who has played 19 games this season with five shutouts. The Austin attack will be looking to take advantage of the missing pieces of the Blues defense to pick up a much needed win on Saturday at Anteater Stadium.
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