IRVINE, Calif. – Lyam MacKinnon and Yaniv Bazini scored first-half goals as Orange County SC took a 2-0 victory against San Antonio FC at Championship Soccer Stadium on Wednesday night to move OCSC into top spot in the USL Championship’s Western Conference while ending San Antonio’s undefeated start to the regular season.
OCSC took the lead in the 11th minute as MacKinnon capitalized on a swift upfield move off a sweeping pass by Marcelo Palomino that released the Swiss forward into space in the left channel for a good finish to the right corner. The hosts doubled their lead 11 minutes before halftime as Bazini notched his first goal of the season after Chris Hegardt’s shot was parried by San Antonio goalkeeper Joey Batrouni, allowing Bazini to put home a close-range finish off the rebound.
San Antonio had chances to get back into the game in the second half, including a header by Mitchell Taintor that was well saved by OCSC’s Alex Rando off a corner kick with 18 minutes to play, but Orange County saw out the result to rebound well from its first loss of the campaign.
Takeaways
Orange County SC – The hosts put together an excellent first-half display that produced numerous good chances through its fast-paced attacking moves and followed through with a good defensive showing in the second half that held San Antonio at bay to earn its third shutout of the season.
San Antonio FC – San Antonio saw its shutout streak end at 407 minutes as it was unable to handle Orange County’s positive attacking moves. While the second half showed improvement, the visitors were unable to find a way through OCSC’s defense as their pressure only recorded one shot on target in the final 45 minutes.