San Diego Loyal finished its four-game homestand with a 2-1 victory over the reigning league champion Orange County SC on Wednesday night at Torero Stadium. The win not only kept San Diego in third place in the USL Championship standings but pulled them within two points of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks who they travel to play on July 4.

“In every season there are games where things don’t go perfectly,” said San Diego Loyal head coach Landon Donovan. “We were pretty close to perfect on the weekend against Indy, less so tonight but to our immense credit we just found a way to win the game.”

San Diego got the scoring off in the 20th minute when forward Tumi Moshobane ran by the OC defense taking a left-footed shot that squirted through the hands of goalkeeper Colin Shutler where a streaking Alejandro Guido was able to get to the loose ball first and put it in the back of the net.

Guido added his second goal of the game off a penalty kick conversion in the 45th minute after Orange County had tied it earlier courtesy of midfielder Milan Iloski.

The match was already chippy before that point with fireworks coming in the 35th minute when San Diego forward Kyle Vassell got into a physical altercation with OC defender Ahmed Longmire. The two players go into it after trying to win possession near the midfield stripe with both grabbing each other and going to the ground.

Vassell landed on top of Longmire and, before the two could be separated, Longmire was seen throwing two punches as he lay on the ground that did not connect with the referee immediately giving red cards to each player.

“We were able to enforce the way we wanted to play and on top of that we matched them for their physicality,” said San Diego captain Charlie Adams.

Besides being a big part of the result, the game had special significance for Adams who played his 150th USL match on Wednesday, which includes his time at Louisville City in 2015, Real Monarchs from 2016-2018, Orange County SC in 2019, and San Diego Loyal from 2020 to present. “With 150 games you have to enjoy every moment and I surely have done that,” Adams added.

San Diego Loyal plays its next home game on July 9 versus LA Galaxy II and will be without the services of Kyle Vassell for the upcoming match against Colorado Springs.

Photo courtesy of Loyal