Orange County Blues FC earned its first point ever against LA Galaxy II in USL play, holding on for a 1-1 draw despite being down a man for the last 2
Orange County Blues FC earned its first point ever against LA Galaxy II in USL play, holding on for a 1-1 draw despite being down a man for the last 20 minutes.
Chris Cortez put the Blues ahead in the 8th minute, and while Orange County looked to be controlling the match, LA’s Ariel Lassiter equalized in the 40th minute.
The action for OC started early, as new addition Milton Blanco fired a shot high in the 4th minute. Pavle Popara played a ball into the middle in the 8th minute to find Chris Cortez, who finished past Clement Diop for his third goal of the season. LA didn’t back down and kept the pressure on the Blues’ backline. The home side looked as though they had equalized in the 32nd minute, but the goal was called back for offside. A scrum in the penalty area resulted in a save by Pepe Miranda, but the goalkeeper was unable to hold the rebound, and Ariel Lassiter finished to equalize, in the 40th minute.
Things really picked up in the second half, when the Blues were reduced to 10 men after Brenton Griffiths was sent off for his second yellow card. Late game efforts from Denzel Slager, Christofer Ramirez, and Popara came up empty, and multiple chances from set pieces for LA from Andre Auras and Bradford Jamieson went for naught,
and the match ended level.
Orange County moves to 7-8-3 on the season, with 24 points, currently good for 6th place in the Western Conference. LA moves to 10-5-3, with 33 points, which puts them in 1st place at the moment, with several teams within a few points still to play this weekend.
The Blues return home for their next match, Saturday, July 25th, hosting Real Monarchs SLC. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. PT.
