Outbreak SC

2017 Meet the Underdogs: Outbreak SC adds former pros to tight-knit group for 2017 US Open Cup run

May 2, 2017 by Jack White

Outbreak Soccer Club will be looking to make waves in this year’s Lamar Hunt US Open Cup as the ultimate underdog team. The club is currently in the thick of a tight title race in the SoCal Premier League and has performed exceptionally well in Open Cup qualification matches, despite the fact that their squad has an average age of over 30 years old.

The club is all about having fun and hanging out with friends, according to Outbreak FC forward Jameson Campbell.

“Preparation is limited to showing up 20 minutes before the match instead of the usual five minutes before kickoff,” he said. “We don’t train, we don’t talk about training, we just show up and hope the last six days of the week didn’t ruin our fitness too much.”

A passionate, unique club that prides itself on community and character, Outbreak SC will be looking to turn heads this year in the Open Cup. The guys in the club want to prove that a tight-knit group of friends have the ability and desire to propel themselves into Open Cup history. The heart and enthusiasm that this club show is one reason why they are the underdogs of the Cup, but at the same time, not a squad that should be ruled out.

“I love the quality of people that play for us,” said player/manager Trent Bryson. “As fathers, husbands, boyfriends and professionals, we have a great group of guys. ‎ We don’t have bad characters … We truly represent what can happen when you have amazing chemistry and a team of individuals passionate about the final score, not about individual efforts.”

Outbreak SC

Added Campbell: “So much fun comes with playing for this club, the constant banter and talking trash to each other pairs very nicely with the skill and effort we put forth on the pitch. I would say the best part is a majority of us actually enjoy each other’s company and many of the Outbreak players can be found hanging out at your local Newport or Long Beach pubs either before or after our weekly match.”

Outbreak SC was initially formed as Beach FC in 2004, and since it has won five league championships in the club’s history, including the times in which it competed in neighboring leagues under the name “Bryson Blues”

Outbreak SC qualified for the First Round of last year’s Open Cup competition, but the club was defeated by the Seattle Sounders U-23 squad 3-1 in a match that went to extra time.

This year, Outbreak SC made a statement in the first round of Open Cup qualification with a 5-0 thrashing of Buena Park FC on Sept. 18. The team then were able to secure a 2-1 victory over SFC Scorpions SC in October in order
to send it to the First Round proper of the tournament.

On expectations for this cup run, Bryson says they will take it one game at a time and enjoy every moment along the way.

“No one on our team has aspirations of going pro,” he said. “We truly play for the love of the game and the friendships we have built.”

The club is primarily composed of a group of friends from Southern California, most of who grew up in Orange County together.

The club is returning every single player from last year’s squad and adding some fresh legs in the form of former Portland Timbers forward Spencer Thompson, Randall Davis, and former OC Blues FC forward Alex Antonescu.

Yet, Bryson pointed to goalkeeper Brendon Welch as the player that could have the biggest impact for the squad.

“He’s a player that if healthy, would have played at the highest level,” Bryson said. “Additionally, we rely on our complete team to show up and compete. We don’t have superstars. We play as one unit.”

2016 US Open Cup Round 1: Late OT goals push Sounders U23s past Outbreak SC

May 14, 2016 by Steven Agen

Seattle Sounders U23s celebrate a goal against Outbreak SC. Photo: Denise McCooey

The Seattle Sounders U-23s required extra time to eliminate Outbreak Soccer Club from the First Round of the 2016 US Open Cup on Wednesday night. They won the match 3-1 on the strength of two goals in the final five minutes of extra time to earn themselves a Round 2 date with the PDL’s Kitsap Pumas.

The hosts started brightly, creating the better of the chances up to the half hour mark. Possession was roughly even but the U-23s’ superior size and athleticism gave them an edge in the attacking third. Outbreak goalkeeper Brenden Welch was forced into his first save on only three minutes in, pushing David Olsen’s shot from inside the area into the path of Keith Francisco. He missed the target from a tight angle on the rebound.

Francisco and Olsen would team up again in the 11th minute. This time, Olsen was on the end of a left-sided cross from Francisco, which he hit first time on the volley. Welch again saved, this time getting down to the base of the near right post to claw the shot away.

Outbreak would not waste the heroics of their goalkeeper. LeeRoy Maguraushe played an errant pass backwards in his own third and Oscar Aguero was more or less unbothered as he finished low to the right in a one on one with Sounders goalkeeper Paul Christensen. On 29 minutes, the open division qualifier from the SoCal Premier League had survived the pressure and taken the lead.

They nearly doubled their advantage in the 38th minute , only to be kept out by a fine save from Christensen. An Outbreak corner found goal-scorer Aguero at the back post and he lashed towards goal from about eight yards out. Christensen dove low and to the left and pawed it away for another corner.

Like the visitors before them, the Sounders would not waste the effort of their shot stopper. An outswinging corner from the right in the 41st minute was headed out toward the top of the box. Maguraushe, guilty of the turnover that led to the opening goal, ran onto the looping ball and struck a pure volley that kept rising until it met the roof of the net just inside the left-hand post. The midfielder was 25 yards out and just left of center, and his certain goal-of-the-round both atoned for his mistake and brought the Sounders U-23s level just before the half.

The tempo the match increased dramatically after the break. Play was stretched and both sides created half-chances on breaks and set pieces. On 73 minutes, James Haupt subbed out for Ash Apollon, who’d come to have a huge impact on the tie as it moved into extra time.

It took several more saves from Welch to get there, though. His best second half stop came when he pushed a Francisco effort around the post off a strike from close range. Centerback Laokandi Collyns just missed with his right foot from inside the six as well, and heading into extra time the hosts looked decidedly the fresher of the two teams.

The first 15 minutes of extra time passed without any real chances or serious incident. Ten minutes into the second half of extra time, Ash Apollon initiated the first of three match-deciding plays he would be involved in.

Countering down the right, Apollon slid Olsen through on goal after the forward made a sharp run behind the back line. Olsen touched over the onrushing Welch, and Sounders U-23’s had their first lead.

After the ensuing kickoff, the U-23s immediately fashioned a 3-on-1 breakaway as Outbreak pressed to equalize. It was clear that there was at least one more goal left in the game despite there only being five minutes and stoppage to play.

Three minutes after the go-ahead goal, Apollon won himself with a penalty to seal the match. As he charged in the area with the ball at his feet, he took a shove in the back and won the spot kick.

Welch made his finest save of the night, diving left to push Apollon’s low attempt off the post. At 2-1 in the 118th minute, the visitors still felt they had a prayer of penalties after Apollon failed to put them away.

The second half substitute quickly made up for his wastefulness, stroking home a right footed shot on a one-on-one opportunity after yet another Sounders counter as the clock hit full time. The referee blew the whistle soon after, giving the Sounders a 3-1 victory.

In the end, the athleticism of the hosts made up for the experience and chemistry of the visitors, who tired as the match wore on. The U-23s next play the Kitsap Pumas in the Second Round of the US Open Cup in Bremerton, Wash. on May 18.

2016 Meet the Underdogs: US Open Cup debutant Outbreak SC proves that practice is overrated

May 11, 2016 by Brandon Gee

As of late last week, according to Outbreak SC’s player/manager, Trent Bryson, the team had only had three practices in the past 10 years. In spite of that, this group of friends from around Orange County, Calif. have won their division five times in the last six years, and are now gearing up for a first round Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match Wednesday against the Seattle Sounders U23s.

Yet this is not a team lacking pedigree. Nearly all of them played collegiate soccer, mostly for schools around southern California like Cal State Fullerton, UC-Irvine and UCLA. They even have Jason Boyce, a former professional player on the roster, who played for the USL Premier Development League (PDL) with Orange County Zodiac, in MLS with the Colorado Rapids and Miami Fusion after a college career at the University of Washington. He also played professionally in Seattle for the Sounders in their USL A-League days. This isn’t Boyce’s first chance at an Open Cup upset. He was on the amateur Hollywood United squad that knocked out the Portland Timbers, who were USL First Division team at the time) back in the first round of the 2008 tournament. Bryson said the team has never recruited solely for skill, instead opting for recommendations from current players on new guys who fit the personality of the club first.

The fact is that they don’t practice because of everyone managing careers, families and other responsibilities. Four players work with Bryson at a financial firm. Most guys keep their fitness up by playing in weekly recreational leagues, indoor soccer or futsal at one of the facilities near Long Beach where Outbreak got its name. They barely have time for drills before their Sunday matches in the SoCal Premier League’s Major Division.

Outbreak SC San Pedro Monsters — Players from Outbreak FC (blue) and the San Pedro Monsters battle for the ball in a 2016 US Open Cup qualifying match. Photo: Joe Walsh

Although they won that division last year, Outbreak SC earned their way to this moment by entering the US Soccer Federation’s Open Division qualifying tournament. In their first-ever Open Cup match, they easily dispatched Buena Park FC 5-1 on Oct. 25, then weeks later in their second round match, they fought off the San Pedro Monsters, who tied the game with two goals in last 15 minutes of regulation, to pull out a dramatic 4-3 win in extra time.

They’ll face a Sounders U-23 team that finished third in the PDL’s Northwest division, but ended up qualifying for the playoffs and reaching the PDL Semifinals. They’re returning a good number of players from last year’s squad including leading scorer Michael Bazja. When asked if Outbreak heading into the game at the end of their 16-game season (where they wrapped up the title on May 1) gave them an edge over Seattle, with a roster of college-age athletes playing together in their first match of the year tonight, Bryson deflected, saying, “I’m more worried about us nursing injuries than us being in game shape. I guess that’s when age gets to you.”

The youngest player on Outbreak is 26, but most are between 35 and 40.

“We just play well together,” said Bryson. “There are no superstars on the team.”

They rely on the fact that this crew of players have played together for so long that they just know where their teammates are going to be. Despite the age difference, Bryson said the part of their success is the confidence they have “when we show up, we expect to win games.”

Outbreak SC

A member of the SoCal Premier League’s Major Division, a step below the Premier Division (which was just won by past Open Cup darlings PSA Elite), Outbreak doesn’t plan on stepping up a level.

“This is truly about playing for the love of the game,” said Bryson. “None of us have any vision of going pro. We do more off the field than on the field.”

He added that the team “is more about the camaraderie amongst the guys.” As for the team’s goals for the Open Cup, they’re taking it game-by-game and, despite their confidence, admit some surprise that they’ve gotten this far.

Traveling mid-week can be tricky for amateur teams and Outbreak is no different. They’ll be missing a few starters, one, Tomer Konowiecki, to a family vacation, the others due to being unable to get out of work. Even though Outbreak does field a reserve team in the SCPL that they could’ve added people from and had the option to pull in a couple ringers for the Open Cup games, Bryson said the players made a decision to stick with the collection of guys that got them into the tournament.

“We all have friends that are great players who we could’ve brought in, but we said “we got here together, we’re going to finish this off together.”