Orange County Blue Star

Full name	Orange County Blue Star
Nicknames	The OC, Blue Star
Founded	1997
Dissolved	2012
Stadium	Eagle Stadium Irvine, California
Capacity	100
League	USL Premier Development League
2012	7th, Southwest Playoffs: DNQ
Home colors Away colors

Orange County Blue Star was anamateur Americansoccer team based inIrvine, California. Founded in 1997, the team played in theUSL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of theAmerican Soccer Pyramid, in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference until 2012.

The team played its home games at Eagle Stadium on the campus ofConcordia University, where they played from 2007 to 2012. The team's colors are white and black.

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Blue Star began life asOrange County Zodiac in the USISLA-League in 1997, finishing fifth in the Pacific Conference in their inaugural season, withGustavo Leal leading the scoring charts. The team suffered three years of middling results, only advancing to the post season in 1999, where they lost to theSeattle Sounders in the Round of 16. The Zodiac played some of their games atSanta Ana Stadium. They changed their name toOrange County Waves prior to the 2000 season, their final one in the A-League, but finished rock bottom of the Pacific Conference, and took the 2000–01 offseason to consider their options.

The club dropped down to the PDL in 2001 and changed their name again, and the newly christened Blue Star immediately enjoyed success. They finished their first year in the fourth tier as Champions of the Southwest division, but were defeated by eventual championship runners-up,Calgary Storm, in the Conference semi-finals. 2002 was frustrating, with Blue Star finishing a third in the division and missing out on the playoffs, but 2003 was better, for although they finished second toFresno Fuego in the divisional table, they advanced all the way to the national playoff semi-finals, falling 3–1 toChicago Fire Reserves at the penultimate hurdle. The 2003 regular season included some stunning results, including a pair of 5–1 victories overFresno Fuego andSan Diego Gauchos, a 5–2 demolition ofNevada Wonders, and a breathtaking 5–4 win overBYU Cougars which featured a hat trick byRyan Coiner.

The year 2003 was a landmark season due to the participation of a certain German player named Jay Göppingen, who played eight games and scored five goals for Blue Star. Goppingen was actually thepseudonym used by formerInter Milan,Bayern Munich andTottenham Hotspur strikerJürgen Klinsmann who, following his relocation from Europe to California, decided he wanted to keep playing for a year or so, just for fun, and to impart his wisdom to Orange County's young soccer players. Klinsmann was born in the city ofGöppingen inBaden-Württemberg.

The 2004 season saw Blue Star relocate from the stadium atUC Irvine to theHome Depot Center inCarson, but the change of surroundings didn't stop them from winning their second divisional title in style, finishing four points ahead of second-placeFresno Fuego, and losing just 3 regular season games all season. Blue Star enjoyed a number of free-scoring victories, putting five pastNevada Wonders in mid May, and topping rivalsSouthern California Seahorses 4–2 in June. The playoffs saw them take care ofSpokane Shadow in the opening game, but eventually lose the Western Conference title toFresno Fuego.

Blue Star enjoyed probably the most successful year in their history in 2005, retaining their division title with comparative ease by finishing a clear 11 points ahead of their nearest rivals,Southern California Seahorses. Once again, Blue Star were the league's free-scoring entertainers, scoring more than four goals on six occasions, including a 6–2 road victory overSan Diego Gauchos, and two 5–0 demolitions ofBYU Cougars andNevada Wonders. The 2005 squad included a number of players who would later go on to graceMajor League Soccer and theUS Men's National Team, includingSacha Kljestan,Calen Carr,Robbie Rogers,Kamani Hill, and top scorerKei Kamara fromSierra Leone, who knocked in 12 goals in his 14 starts. Blue Star easily advanced to the post-season playoffs where, after beatingFresno Fuego and Northwest championsCascade Surge, they fell by the odd goal in three to the eventual national champions,Des Moines Menace. Blue Star's impressive early season form also took them to theUS Open Cup for the first time since 1999, but they were beaten 3–1 in the first round byEl Paso Patriots. Blue Star finished 2005 with the best regular season record in the country, winning 15 out of their 16 games, suffering just one loss, and finishing with a +39 goal difference.

With their conference expanding to 9 teams, Blue Star did not find life in 2006 quite as easy, but they still finished second in the division behindSouthern California Seahorses. Playing out of yet another new stadium –Orange Coast College inCosta Mesa – Blue Star started the season strongly, winning four of their first five games, including an astonishing 4–3 victory overSan Fernando Valley Quakes which saw them score 4 goals in the final 8 minutes of the game. A strong season finish saw Blue Star win six of their last eight games, and their form continued into the playoffs, where they overcameAbbotsford Rangers andBYU Cougars to take the Western Conference title for the second year in a row, before losing toMichigan Bucks in the national semi finals.Anthony Hamilton andSal Zizzo were the season's top scorers with 8 and 4 goals respectively, whileSem Lopez contributed 3 assists.

The 2007 season, however, marked the first season when things did not go Blue Star's way. Playing out of their third stadium in as many years –Concordia University inIrvine – for the first time in a long time the team finished with a losing record, picking up just 3 wins all season, and finishing a lowly 9th in the divisional table, a full 19 points adrift of league leadersFresno Fuego andSan Fernando Valley Quakes. The sole high point in a hugely disappointing season was the 3–0 victory overBakersfield Brigade in early July, and it is indicative of the unexpected slump in form the team suffered that the season's top scorer,Patrick Marion, notched just 5 of the team's 18 goals.

Blue Star started 2008 brightly, hoping to put the misery of the dismal 2007 season behind them. Two wins in their first four games – 4–1 over old rivalsSouthern California Seahorses (in which all four Blue Star goals were scored byJeffrey Clark) and 3–1 overLancaster Rattlers – initially kept spirits high, but things quickly turned sour. Blue Star didn't win another game until July, and during their mid-season drought suffered seven defeats in nine games, including a 6–1 hammering byLos Angeles Legends, a 3–0 home defeat byFresno Fuego, and a humiliating 4–2 loss away toLancaster Rattlers in what was that franchise's second ever victory. As July came round, Blue Star were rooted at the foot of the Southwest standings, but three victories in their last three games, including an impressive 3–1 win overBakersfield Brigade, gave their year at least some small semblance of respectability. Nevertheless, Blue Star finished 8th of 10 in the division, twelve points behind divisional championsSan Fernando Valley Quakes.Jeffrey Clark was the team's top scorer, with seven goals, whileTomer Konowiecki notched up four assists.

The 2009 season began superbly for Blue Star, with four wins in their first four games – including an impressive 4–0 over divisional new boysOgden Outlaws that featured a hat trick from striker David Ponce – and four straight clean sheets for goalkeeperKris Minton taking them to the first round of theUS Open Cup for the first time since 2005. However, having gone unbeaten in their first six regular season games through the end of May, Blue Star collapsed in mid-season, and endured an awful ten game winless streak through June and July that saw the teams fall to a number of comprehensive defeats, losing 5–1 toFresno Fuego, 3–0 toBakersfield Brigade, and conceding a late equalizer in the return game against Fresno to draw 2–2 when victory looked to be on the cards. Even their cup run ended quickly with a 5–2 loss at the hands ofNPSL sideSonoma County Sol. A final day 1–0 victory on the road in Utah againstBYU Cougars restored a little bit of pride for the team which once dominated the division, but it was much too little too late, and they finished the year a distant eighth in the table. David Ponce scored five goals, but such was the squad's instability that head coach Spencer used 46 players during the course of the season, including ex-professionalMike Munoz and Ian Sarachan, son of formerChicago Fire MLS coachDave Sarachan.

As of August 10, 2012^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  USA Sam Chappell[2] 1 GK  USA Patrick McLain[3] 2 FW  USA David Ponce[4] 3 DF  USA Tyler Krumpe[5] 4 DF  USA Jimmy Turner[6] 5 DF  USA Joe Sofia[7] 6 DF  USA Patrick Matchett[8] 8 MF  USA Phil Da Silva[9] 10 FW  USA Ramiro Diaz[10] 12 MF  USA Neil Anaya[11] 13 MF  USA William Lopez 14 DF  USA Charlie Pettys[12] 15 MF  USA Andy Riemer[13] 16 DF  USA Ryan Lee[14] 18 MF  USA Blake Wise[15] 19 MF  USA Michael Sahagian[16] 20 DF  USA Everett Pitts[17]

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  USA Christian Ramirez[18] 22 DF  USA Mitch Boland[19] 23 DF  USA Jon Spencer 24 DF  USA Trevor Hubbard[20] 25 MF  USA Adrian Avila 26 MF  USA Kovi Konowiecki[21] 28 GK  USA Kris Minton[22] 29 FW  USA Michael Shaddock[23] — MF  USA Steve Birnbaum[24] — DF  USA Ray Estrada[25] — MF  USA Jordan Gafa[26] — MF  USA Elijah Galbraith-Knapp[27] — DF  USA Wesley Lucas — MF  USA Alec Sundly[28] — DF  USA Daniel Vigil — GK  USA William Whiddon

This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.

• USL PDL Western Conference Champions 2006
• USL PDL Regular Season Champions 2005
• USL PDL Western Conference Champions 2005
• USL PDL Southwest Division Champions 2005
• USL PDL Southwest Division Champions 2004
• USL PDL Western Conference Champions 2003
• USL PDL Southwest Division Champions 2001

• Erik Kirsch (2001)
• Tom Poltl (2002–2004)
• Nick Theslof (2005–2006)
• Jon Spencer (2007–present)

• Santa Ana Stadium;Santa Ana, California (2001–2002)
• Stadium atUC Irvine;Irvine, California (2003, 2005)
• Stadium atSage Hill High School;Newport Coast, California, 2 games (2003)
• Home Depot Center;Carson, California (2004)
• Stadium atOrange Coast College;Costa Mesa, California (2006)
• Eagle Stadium atConcordia University;Irvine, California (2007–present)
• Stadium atHuntington Park High School;Huntington Park, California, 1 game (2011)

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive athttps://web.archive.org/web/20100105175057/http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html.

• 2005: 109
• 2006: 95
• 2007: 314
• 2008: 79
• 2009: 114
• 2010: 93

Orange County FC

• Official PDL site

• USL League Two teams
• Soccer clubs in Orange County, California
• Association football clubs established in 1997
• Sports in Irvine, California
• 1997 establishments in California

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