2023 Orange County SC season

Orange County SC
2023 season
ManagerRichard Chaplow
(until May 1)
Morten Karlsen (Interim)
(from May 1)
StadiumChampionship Soccer Stadium
Irvine, California
USL ChampionshipWestern Conf.: 2nd
Overall: 5th
USL Championship PlayoffsConference Semifinals
U.S. Open CupThird Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Milan Iloski (17 goals)
All: Milan Iloski (20 goals)
Highest home attendance5,500 (5 times)
Lowest home attendanceLeague: 3,047 (May 17 v.s. Sacramento Republic FC)
Open Cup: 1,588 (Second Round, April 5 vs Capo FC)
Average home league attendance4,411[1]
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2024 →

The 2023 Orange County SC season was the club's thirteenth season of existence, and their thirteenth consecutive season in the United Soccer League Championship, the second tier of American soccer.

Orange County had a tumultuous start, only winning one out of their first eight games with a 1-4-3 record, leading to the team firing head coach Richard Chaplow and promoting the newly hired assistant coach Morten Karlsen to interim head coach on May 1, 2023.[2] Under new management, Orange County found form and finished the season on a three-game winning streak, going from 11th to 2nd place in the Western Conference,[3] and having a final record of 17–11–6.[4]

In the first round of the USL Championship playoffs, Orange County faced off against seventh seeded El Paso Locomotive FC at home, winning 1–0 with a goal from Forward Milan Iloski.[5] In the semifinals, Orange County hosted 6th seed Phoenix Rising FC, losing 2–1 in extra time to the eventual champions.[6][7]

This would be the last season that the team-leading goalscorer and All-League Second Team[8] Iloski would play for Orange County, as after this season he made a transfer to FC Nordsjælland in the Danish Superliga in the January transfer window.[9][10] Additionally, on November 10, appointed interim head coach Karlsen was signed to become the official head coach of Orange County.[11]

  1. ^ "2023 USL Championship Attendance". Soccer America. October 16, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  2. ^ "Orange County SC replaces coach Richard Chaplow after 8 games". Orange County Register. 2023-05-02. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  3. ^ "The Hype is Building". Orange & Black SoccerCast. 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  4. ^ "Standings". uslchampionship.com. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  5. ^ "Orange County 1-0 El Paso (Oct 21, 2023) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  6. ^ "Phoenix 2-1 Orange County (Oct 28, 2023) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  7. ^ "Match Center | USLChampionship.com". www.uslchampionship.com. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  8. ^ Staff, USLChampionship com (2023-11-07). "USL Championship Announces 2023 All-League Teams". USL Championship. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  9. ^ Burke, Elias. "Orange County SC's Milan Iloski moves to Nordsjaelland, continuing trend in USL". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  10. ^ "Orange County SC's Milan Iloski headed to Europe after USL season". Orange County Register. 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  11. ^ "Orange County SC removes interim label for coach Morten Karlsen". Orange County Register. 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2024-06-17.