August 13, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Phoenix Rising FC News Release
IRVINE, California – Phoenix Rising FC lost, 2-1, to Orange County SC at Championship Soccer Stadium tonight.
JJ Williams scored the lone goal for Rising in the loss, his second goal in three matches since signing with Phoenix.
The second-longest shutout streak in franchise history ended at 474 minutes when the top scorer in the USL Championship this season, Milan Iloski cut inside and found the back of the net for the 17th time this season in the 20th minute.
Phoenix responded immediately when Joe Farrell switched the point of attack to Santi Moar on the back post. Moar had time to bring the ball down and knock a left-footed pass inside to Williams. The pass took a deflection off an Orange County defender and sat up perfectly for Williams to strike low and just inside the back post to make it 1-1 in the 23rd minute.
Iloski struck again after a long run of possession for Orange County to start the second half. The play started with Dillon Powers who had time and space at the top of the box to pick out the run of Iloski. The Golden Boot leader expertly brought down the pass in the area with his chest and knocked a shot by Rising goalkeeper Ben Lundt to give Orange County a 2-1 lead in the 62nd minute.
Rising searched for a second equalizer of the match but was limited to just three shots on the night by a stingy Orange County defense and midfield.
Scoring:
OC – Milan Iloski (Seth Casiple) 20
PHX – JJ Williams 23
OC – Milan Iloski (Dillon Powers) 62
Discipline:
OC – Albi Skendi (caution) 9
OC – Kyle Scott (caution) 88
OC – Sean Okoli (caution) 90+1
PHX – Kevon Lambert (caution) 90+2
Lineups:
Phoenix Rising FC – Ben Lundt, Darnell King (Greg Hurst 82), Joe Farrell (Marcus Ferkranus 82), James Musa, Joey Calistri, Kevon Lambert, Aodhan Quinn, Luis Seijas (Arturo Rodriguez 62), Santi Moar (Baboucar Njie 62), JJ Williams, Koze Donasiyano (Richmond Antwi 87). Substitutes Not Used: Lalo Delgado, Carlos Anguiano.
Orange County SC – Patrick Rakovsky, Ian Hoffman (Brian Iloski 87), Michael Orozco, Albi Skendi, Alex Villanueva, Brent Richards, Kevin Partida (Kyle Scott 71), Seth Casiple (Ahmed Longmire 87), Dillon Powers (Tommy McCabe 81), Milan Iloski, Erick Torres, (Sean Okoli 81).
Substitutes Not Used: Ivan Gutierrez, Colin Shutler.
• Discuss this story on the United Soccer League Championship message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization…