Orange County SC sign former MLS Rookie of the Year Dillon Powers

Orange County SC announced on Thursday they have signed midfielder Dillon Powers.

“We are delighted to add Dillon, a first-class professional with lots of experience to our team,” Oliver Wyss, OCSC President of Soccer Operations said in a team statement. “Despite some early season injuries to a few key players, our goal of winning the USL Championship Final has not changed and we feel with the addition of Ugo [Okoli] and now Dillon we have added top-quality to our already talented roster!”

Powers, 30, joins after a year and a half spent at Scottish club Dundee United. Helping the team reach promotion to the Scottish Premiership in his first half-season, Powers made 14 league appearances last season in the top flight for The Tangerines.

After playing collegiately at Notre Dame, Powers was drafted by the Colorado Rapids in 2013 and was voted MLS Rookie of the Year in his debut professional season. A box-to-box midfielder, he was traded to Orlando City in 2017 and served mostly as a reserve there. After going out of contract after the 2019 season, he went to Dundee United on a free.

“I’m thrilled to be joining a club that has quality throughout the side,” Powers said. “I’m excited to put my stamp on it and help the team achieve its goal of bringing a championship to Orange County this year.”

It’s another statement of intent for Orange County, as they sit in 2nd place in the Pacific Division but don’t have much margin of error in that spot right now. Moves like this and the one for the return of Sean “Ugo” Okoli recently show this club is going all-in on trying to win now. We’ll see if they can make it happen.

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