Roots Remain Undefeated Heading into Saturday Home Contest Versus Orange County SC

Despite a 2-2 draw on the road versus Phoenix Rising FC in their last match, Roots remain undefeated at 2-1-0 (W-D-L) heading into their next contest — a 5 PM PT Saturday home fixture versus Orange County SC at the Oakland Coliseum.

Roots are quite familiar with their opponent, as Saturday marks the 15th edition in the all-time series versus Orange County, the most of any Oakland opponents.

Oakland holds a 5-1-6 regular season record versus Orange County during that span, and have faced them on two additional occasions — a loss at home in the Prinx Tires USL Cup last season, and a meeting in the 2021 USL Championship Western Conference Semi-Finals that Roots played to a 0-0 draw after regulation and extra-time, eventually falling to Orange County 5-6 in PKs.

Both Oakland and Orange County (1-2-0) enter the match with undefeated records, but Roots hold an advantage in the current league table, entering play atop the Western Conference while Orange County sits in fourth.

In addition to sitting atop the table, Roots also occupy an exclusive space in the league statistics table, being one of only three current teams (Hartford, El Paso) to rank top-four league-wide in both Goals Scored (5) and Goals Allowed (3).

On Saturday, however, Roots will be without one of their top scoring threats, as 2025 Golden Boot winner Peter Wilson has been called up for international duty with his home country Liberia, and will be unavailable for Saturday’s contest.

Luckily, Oakland has other options in the scoring department.

Wolfgang Prentice, who landed himself on USL Championship’s team of the week following a goal and an assist in Roots’ match versus Phoenix, has become a steady presence in the stat sheet for Oakland, leading the club with three goal contributions in as many games played.

Paired with team co-captain Tommy McCabe leading the Western Conference with 249 completed passes, Oakland will look to remain fluid on offense and continue to remain one of the league’s top attacks.

Following Saturday’s match, Roots will get some rest on a bye week before heading out on the road again for an away clash with Tampa Bay Rowdies on April 11th at 4:30 PM PT.