Understandably, given their season a year ago, the biggest praise in terms of turning around a club’s fortunes were placed at the feet of the Portland Timbers 2 and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, with T2 making a 40-point improvement to go from the bottom of the Western Conference to its first trip to the USL Cup Playoffs and Riverhounds SC making a 23-point improvement to go from well off the pace to its first home playoff game at Highmark Stadium in Bob Lilley’s first year in charge.

Orange County’s move from out of the playoffs a year ago, though, should be placed at least alongside both of those, in particular due to the fact that OCSC matched Pittsburgh’s 23-point improvement from the 2017 campaign to 2018. Orange County’s improvement was certainly expected thanks to the offseason additions of players with excellent resumes in Aodhan Quinn, Thomas Enevoldsen and Christian Duke, but that everything came together as well as it did is a great credit to Head Coach Braeden Cloutier and the players themselves.

Behind all of this, of course, is Owner James Keston and General Manager Oliver Wyss, who have led a transformation in the past two years to allow new doors to open for a side that alternated seasons in and out of the playoffs over its first five years. OCSC certainly is unlikely to make another 23-point improvement next season, but with the direction the side moved this season it’s certainly reasonable to think another season of 65-plus points will be within reach.