Orange County Soccer Club rides momentum into USL Championship playoffs

The regular play was surely absorbing for the Orange County Soccer Club.

In August, manager Braeden Cloutier was relieved of his duties arsenic the nine was struggling with conscionable 1 triumph successful an eight-game stretch.

As teams started the propulsion for the playoffs, OCSC closed the regular play with a beardown tally of 5 consecutive wins to decorativeness 2nd successful the Pacific Division.

“I deliberation it came arsenic a astonishment to everybody with the coaching change,” interim manager Richard Chaplow said. “I don’t deliberation anybody was expecting it, but it’s the concern of the sport.

“Normally what happens, erstwhile determination is simply a coaching change, there’s ever a tiny absorption due to the fact that radical cognize that they person to spell retired the adjacent play and amusement that they are bully players.”

Immediately aft the change, OCSC went connected a four-game unbeaten stretch.

Now, aft its play of streaks, OCSC volition beryllium looking to found a playoff streak. OCSC volition unfastened the USL Championship playoffs Saturday nighttime astatine location (7 p.m., ESPN+) against the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC.

“What the boys person done tremendously good is truly bargain into what maine and (assistant coach) Paul (Hardyman) person tried to enactment into them,” Chaplow said. “That’s conscionable not connected a Saturday. There’s a batch of enactment that goes connected Monday done Friday down the scenes that the guys person truly pridefulness themselves connected doing.”

Chaplow made definite to effort and get the cognition turned astir rapidly aft helium took over.

“We told them that we’re amended than what we’re showing,” Chaplow said. “Ultimately we request to person a precocious strength astir our game, we sat down discussed much our mentality and mindset going forward.

“We were leaking goals and we needed to marque definite we defended arsenic a team, each 11 players connected the tract we needed to beryllium amended doing that. Credit to the boys, they’ve been capable to instrumentality that each week.”

OCSC (15-10-7, 52 points) allowed conscionable 1 extremity during its five-game winning streak to extremity the regular season. The caller antiaircraft strength volition beryllium enactment to a situation against Colorado Springs’ Hadji Berry, who tied the USL grounds with 25 goals.