Orange County SC obtain defender Alex Crognale on loan from Columbus Crew SC

Columbus Crew SC announced on Thursday they have loaned defender Alex Crognale to Orange County SC. The terms of the loan are that it will be on a game-by-game basis, so this loan could last a week or the entire USL season, although in the past Columbus have frequently recalled USL loanees. The distance between OC and Ohio may change that a bit, however.

Crognale, 23, is in his second season as a pro. The center back, an Ohio native, signed a Homegrown deal with Columbus after playing four years of college soccer at Maryland. An imposing figure, the 6-foot-5 Crognale made 17 MLS appearances in his rookie season and came off the bench twice so far this season for Crew SC.

Crognale appears capable of being a very good MLS defender, but he seemed to fall behind another second-year pro, Lalas Abubakar, to start the current season on the depth chart.

So we’ll see how Crognale does in however long his stint will be with Orange County. He’s the second MLS player to be loaned to the USL side today (alongside Andre Rawls), although neither player is from Los Angeles Football Club, OC’s MLS affiliate. We’ll see if there are yet to be more loan signings added ahead of the season opener on Saturday against Phoenix Rising FC, and beyond.

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