The Oakland Roots’ offensive resurgence continued Saturday night with a 3-0 win over struggling Orange County SC at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward.
The match was a doubleheader nightcap that included the Oakland Soul’s home opener. The team announced that a crowd of 5,855 fans were in attendance for the two games, the most for any home match in franchise history.
Oakland has scored seven goals in the past two matches after scoring more than one goal only once in their first seven league matches.
“In other games where we didn’t get results, our performance has been very high,” Roots Head Coach Noah Delgado said after the match. “We didn’t get a couple goals in a couple games and I thought we were pretty unlucky. Tonight, though, the ball went in.”
The Roots got on the board in the 30th minute, with Darek Formella scoring his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Lindo Mfeka intercepted a pass at the edge of the box and dished the ball off to Edgardo Rito. Orange County defender Dillon Powers got a foot on Rito’s cross but ended up deflecting the ball into the path of Formella, who blasted it inside the far post.
Oakland added another just before halftime. Mfeka’s 43rd-minute cross found Tarek Morad between two Orange County defenders for an emphatic header from point-blank range.
For much of the second half, it appeared that there would be no more scoring, But Johnny Rodriguez entered the match in the 75th minute and continued his knack for setting up goals right after coming in as a substitute. Three minutes later, Rodriguez received a pass just over midfield, waited for the defender to commit, and dished the ball off an unmarked Rito for the finish.
The goal was Rito’s second of the season and first since moving up from the midfield to play on the right wing.
“After the first game some people were questioning it a little bit,” Delgado said. “My idea was it’s his first game at right wing; it’s not gonna be perfect. You can see him getting more comfortable, understanding the system. He has a great relationship with [Bryan] Tamacas behind him. Both of those guys get forward. Their combinations were really good tonight.”
Things were mostly quieter than usual for Roots goalkeeper Paul Blanchette, but he was called upon to make a couple of key saves.
In the 29th minute, Blanchette swung his right arm in the air to redirect Bryan Iloski’s blast out of danger.
In the 71st minute, Ashish Chattha sent a ball into the box that Milan Iloski headed across the goalmouth as Marc McNulty rushed to meet it at the far post. But Blanchette was able to deflect the ball just enough to send it over the endline for a corner.
The visitors also nearly scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time when Powers’ found a loose ball in traffic and blasted a shot that bounced off the crossbar.
While the Roots are now resurgent, Orange County has only one win and three draws in its first ten matches of the season, and Interim Head Coach Morten Karlsen has taken over for Richard Chaplow, who led Orange County to the USL championship less than two years ago.
But Delgado thinks there’s still time for the visitors to recover this season.
“I think they’re a good team, and they’ll get some results down the road,” he said. “Even just this year, I think it’s really, really competitive because all the teams in the league can win. The coast-to-coast travel for teams is part of this process. Now, that’s much higher than before.”
