In the Nick of Time: Orange County SC 2, Seattle Sounders 2 1

Orange County SC continued their impressive season, as a last-minute goal from the penalty spot delivered a 2-1 win at Orange County Great Park on Saturday night over Seattle Sounders 2.

The game, the final home game of the regular season, was hard fought between the teams, belying their disparate positions in the league table, but Orange County maintain control of first place in the USL Western Conference with the victory.

It was a scoreless first half, where both teams were relatively quiet, although OC had a shot off the post early, as Michael Seaton’s header clanged off the woodwork.

But the scoring began in the second half, with the visitors drawing first blood. Azriel Gonzalez unleashed a long-range bomb to put Seattle ahead in the 60th minute.

As we’ve seen so often this year, however, Orange County had an answer, and this one came just two minutes later, as Alex Crognale’s header was touched on its way in by Richard Chaplow to tie up the game.

Orange County grinded to find the win, and found a moment of fortune in second-half stoppage time, as substitute Giovanni Ramos-Godoy earned a penalty. Aodhan Quinn stepped up to take the spot kick, and converted it to seal the win.

All in all, it wasn’t Orange County’s most beautiful win, but Seattle appear to be a team that matches up well with them. At the same time, they won’t have to face S2 in the playoffs this year. And while I write this nearly every game at this point, it really feels like a special season for OCSC, who seem to always have a chance of victory in virtually every game in the final weeks of the regular season.

There’s just one game left in the USL regular season for Orange County, as they’ll travel to Reno to take on Reno 1868 in their regular-season finale next Saturday. From there, it’s onward to the playoffs, and we’ll see if Orange County will be top seed in the West or not when all is said and done.

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