Matchday 2 Info:
Tampa Bay Rowdies at Orange County SC
Irvine, CA, Championship Soccer Stadium
Saturday, March 18, 10 p.m. ET
Watch: Stream the match on ESPN+
The Tampa Bay Rowdies face their first road test of the year this Saturday as they travel to Southern California to take on Orange County SC. Tampa Bay has has had two prior competitive meetings against Orange County, both of which took place at Al Lang Stadium and ended in 3-1 results. Orange County took the first encounter when the two sides met in the 2021 USL Championship Final, but the Rowdies got the better of Orange County last season.
This year, the Rowdies must head to Orange County’s house. Getting results away from home has been a point of pride for the Rowdies and critical reasons why the club the has found great success over the last few seasons. The Rowdies posted ten road wins in 2021 on their way to finishing with the best overall regular-season record. Last year, the Rowdies were still one of the better road teams in the USL but took a step back with just 8 wins away from Al Lang.
“We’ve been excellent on the road over a lot of games,” said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins. “Last year we didn’t quite keep the high standards that we’ve set and I think there were multiple reasons for that. I think we’ve addressed that with our recruitment. Jordan Doherty, Forrest Lasso, people like JJ, I could go through a lot of names. They were all added to the squad because of the different environments we go to. We’re not playing at Al Lang every week. We’re going to different fields, different environments. I think they’ve helped us with that.”
After failing to qualify for the playoffs last year, Orange County are looking to right the ship in 2023. Returning to the club for the rebound effort is 2022 USL Championship Golden Boot winner Milan Iloski, who led the league with 22 goals.
Orange County opened the season at home last week with a 3-1 defeat to last year’s Eastern Conference winners Louisville City FC.
“I’m sure (Orange County HC Richard Chaplow) will feel there’s lot of aspects he’ll be pleased with,” said Collins. “He’s recruited really well. They’ve got the top goal scorer in the league from last season. They’ve added that with Thomas Amang and Andrew Fox to name a couple. We’re going in to play a difficult opponent. One we’ve got a history with. It’s going to be a great test.”
Cal’s OC Streak
Rowdies newcomer Cal Jennings is still looking to grab his first goal for Tampa Bay, and a matchup against Orange County may be just what the striker needs. In his last three meetings against Orange County while playing for Las Vegas Lights FC, Jennings tallied four goals.
Injury Report
OUT: Connor Sparrow, Leo Fernandes (Achilles/Out for Season)
