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USL Sacramento Republic FC

Know Your Opponent: Orange County SC

May 19, 2021 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Sacramento Republic FC News Release


The Indomitable Club remain undefeated on the young season after downing Las Vegas Lights FC 3-1 at Heart Health Park on May 12.

Goals from Dariusz Formella, Tucker Bone and Jaime Villarreal ensured all three points were headed to the boys in Old Glory Red who are unbeaten through two games in 2021.

But the attention has quickly turned to this coming weekend's opponent - Orange County SC - in the first of four meetings this season.

Key Moves

After spending the 2020 season on loan with Hobro IK in his native Denmark during the pandemic, former SRFC striker Thomas Enevoldsen has returned to California to lead the front line for Orange County.

The Championship MVP Finalist in 2018 will be joined up top by another former Republic FC player - Adam Jahn - who heads to SoCal from Major League Soccer's Atlanta United. But the newly acquired attacking firepower doesn't stop there, as OCSC signed Ronaldo Damus - the 2019 USL League One Golden Boot winner - as well as a towering Finnish forward standing 6-foot-5, Eero Markkanen.

Aside from the attacking front, the Orange County also lured Chris Wehan to the club from New Mexico United who brings a wealth of USL Championship experience.

On the backline, OCSC brought in Brent Richards from Reno 1868 FC who logged over 100 appearances with the Nevadan club.

Orange County Last Season

The SoCal club was very much in the thick of the playoff race in 2020 but losses in five of the last seven games of the season - including a defeat at the hands of LA Galaxy II who ended up securing a playoff spot - left OCSC on the outside of the postseason looking in.

Orange County finished the regular season in third place, training Los Dos by just two points in Group A, with a 7-6-3 record.

Defensively, the side allowed just 18 goals all season - tied with SRFC and New Mexico United - for the third-fewest in the Western Conference. Orange County's six clean sheets on the season was tied for seventh-most in the entire league alongside Charleston Battery.

Offensively, OCSC netted the seventh fewest goals in the entire Championship in 2020 with 18 strikes in 16 games.

Head-to-Head

In the all-time series, Republic FC has the upper hand with nine wins from 18 total clashes during league play.

The boys in Old Glory Red post a 9-6-3 record against Orange County and haven't lost in Southern California at the hands of OCSC since October 2017.

When playing on the road against Orange County, SRFC has outscored the hosts 13 to 9.

Last Time They Met

2020 was a season where Orange County and Sacramento only clashed once but when they did, it was a memorable one.

Orange County traveled north and took an early lead in the midweek match when Sean Okoli found the back of the net five minutes into the fixture. To make matters worse, Republic FC's Rodrigo Lopez saw a straight red card close to the hour mark and Mark Briggs' men were forced to play the remainder of the match down a man.

But a resilient Republic FC side burst to life with just over ten minutes to play when Dariusz Formella netted the equalizer in the 79th minute. Eight minutes later, Jaime Villarreal picked out Villyan Bijev who bagged the game-winner and secured the come-from-behind 2-1 win.

Saturday's showdown against Orange County SC is set to kickoff at 7:00 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on ESPN+, KQCA My58 and Estrella TV.

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