Orange County SC keep playoff hopes alive with Sacramento Republic win

Orange County SC kept their fledgling playoff hopes alive with a 3-1 win over Sacramento Republic FC on Wednesday. It was a good performance by Orange County SC, who had to win to keep any hope of making the playoffs alive.

Orange County opened the scoring in the first half, Zach Kobayashi had a nice run in on the left and into the box, then slammed a shot off the crossbar that was turned in by Rodrigo Pacheco in the 27th minute.

The rest of the first half was mostly controlled by Sacramento Republic, who equalized right before half time. Sacramento Republic had a really nice move from a free kick, faking the shot and playing in a couple passes before the ball was eventually put in by Sammy Ochoa.

Orange County had a good response after the half, and both teams had their chances in the second half. Orange County eventually broke through in the 80th minute, a cross was sent in, and with a nice move (and a fortunate deflection), Dusan Stevanovic sent a ball in the net for the eventual game winner.

Sacramento Republic sent numbers forward to try and grab a last minute equalizer, and this allowed Orange County to ice the game.

Orange County hit Sacramento on the counterattack, and a nice move down the left flank and a good finish by Jerry van Ewijk sealed the win for Orange County.

Orange County now sit in ninth place, three points behind Tulsa Roughnecks and the OKC Energy for a spot in the playoffs. They still need help to get into the playoffs, but at least last night they took care of business.

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