IRVINE, Calif. – When James Keston purchased what is now Orange County SC a little over two years ago, the goals for what he wanted to achieve through the club were clearly laid out.

“It’s a chance to make the only professional soccer team in Orange County a truly local team focused on the fans, players and youth clubs of Orange County,” Keston said in the press release announcing the deal. “We will put a winning team on the field full of exciting young talent, initiate a cutting-edge youth development academy and create a fan experience worthy of one of the largest and most dedicated soccer markets in the United States.”

As the club prepares for this Saturday’s Western Conference Semifinals clash with Reno 1868 FC at Champions Soccer Stadium (10 p.m. ET | Match Center | ESPN+), Keston is well on the way to accomplishing his goals.

Almost everything about Orange County, which had been part of the USL since the start of its modern era in 2011, has changed. From the new brand, to the club’s new permanent home in Irvine, Calif., increased staffing off the field and recruitment of players that have produced a club-best season to date, OCSC has been transformed in the manner Keston envisioned when he took over the club.

For those that had been with the club since prior to Keston’s arrival like current Head Coach Braeden Cloutier, who was an assistant at the club for three seasons before making the move into the top position this offseason, the success the club has been able to accomplish this year as a result of the work done off the field has been the payoff for the course the club set.

“To say I'm shocked or surprised [by our success], I'm not,” Cloutier told the Los Angeles Times’ Scott French recently. “From day one, I knew what we were capable of doing, but it has been a special season so far.”

The success on the field led by the attacking trio of Thomas Enevoldsen, Michael Seaton and Aodhan Quinn has certainly changed the narrative about where Orange County stands in the pecking order in the USL’s Western Conference, and the league overall. Tabbed as a dark horse contender in preseason after the addition of those three players and other USL veterans like Christian Duke – who had led the Swope Park Rangers to back-to-back Western Conference titles in the past two years – Orange County has been one of the more complete teams in the league this season.