United hoping to maximize home-field advantage

Saturday, 7 p.m., Radio: 101.7 FM; TV: KASY (English), Estrella (Spanish); Streaming: KRQE.com, ESPN+

Making itself at home is more than a nicety for New Mexico United this month. It's also an objective.

United will entertain Orange County SC at Isotopes Park on Saturday, the first of three straight home matches to conclude the regular season. If things go according to plan, the homestand could go on even longer.

New Mexico enters Saturday's match in third place in the USL Championship Western Conference standings — significant because the top four finishers will host first-round playoff games. United can lock up a postseason home date with a win Saturday and either a loss or draw by El Paso.

But why stop there? NMU (13-10-4, 43 points) is unlikely to catch first-place Tulsa (50 points), but trails second-place Sacramento (44) by just one point and has a favorable finishing schedule against three sub-.500 opponents.

United goes into Saturday riding a three-game winning streak and wrapped up a playoff spot with last week's 1-0 road win over Phoenix. Coach Dennis Sanchez understands the importance of keeping core players fresh for the postseason, but he also knows the value of playing as many games as possible at home.

"I think balance is the right word," Sanchez said. "We finally have a full healthy group and it's important to integrate guys coming back from injury and to control the load for some of our other guys. At the same time, we want to win every time we step on the field. That's the expectation no matter which group we have out there — that we want to win and can win."

New Mexico is certainly in a more comfortable position than is Orange County, which comes into Saturday's match in ninth place with 31 points, two behind eighth-place Phoenix and below the playoff line. OC still have four games remaining and can make the postseason with a strong finish, but coach Danny Stone's club is 0-4-4 in its last eight matches and hasn't won since Aug. 16.

"They've had some inconsistencies," Sanchez said of OC, "but they have very good individual players and they're competing for their lives. Orange County can be very aggressive at times, so we have to make sure we're on our front foot controlling the narrative."

NMU has been stingy on the defensive end of late, conceding just five goals in its last nine matches with four shutouts. Orange County has actually scored one more goal in league play than United (38-37) but has conceded 41 — seven more than New Mexico.

United also has the Isotopes Park factor on its side. United is 6-4-2 at home this season, while Orange County has struggled mightily (2-9-3) on the road.

NMU defender and co-captain Kalen Ryden, who this week announced he will retire at season's end, hopes to milk New Mexico's home-field advantage for all it's worth.

"We have a great opportunity in front of us," he said. "We want to take advantage of these last three games and have as many home games in November as possible. We're not satisfied just getting into the playoffs, and —in my situation — the idea of not going on the road again sounds fantastic."

AUTUMN COLORS: After withering in the late-summer heat, United has regained its shine as temperatures have cooled. NMU endured a seven-game winless stretch (0-5-2) in July and August, but has since gone 5-1-1 in September and October.

SEEING YELLOW: New Mexico led the USLC in total yellow cards for much of the season but has recently fallen back to fourth place with 77. (San Antonio has a league-high 83). Individually, NMU's Chris Gloster and Gedion Zelalem are tied for third with nine cautions apiece. Former United midfielder Houssou Landry (now with Charleston) leads the way with 12 yellow cards.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Orange County (8-11-7): The sum of OC's parts hasn't always been as good as its individual pieces. Several players have put up quality numbers but Orange County is on the precipice of missing the postseason if it can't find a late spark. Forward Ethan Zubak, midfielder Chris Hegardt and defender Nico Benalcazar are among the likely candidates to lift OC's fortunes. Zubak ranks among the USL Championship leaders with 11 goals scored and 39 shots, while Hegardt (3 goals, 4 assists, 25 shots) is an adept playmaker with 44 chances created this season. Benalcazar has been an anchor on the back line with 25 starts and 2,237 minutes played. He also contributes on the attacking end (3 assists, 26 shots, 17 chances created) and has been subbed off early only once. Veteran goalkeeper Colin Shutler (64 saves) has been busy.

New Mexico (13-10-4): With a playoff berth in hand, United coach Dennis Sanchez is likely to rotate players over the final three regular-season games. NMU still has team objectives to chase — including earning home playoff matches — and some intriguing individual races to settle. Perhaps most notable is the club scoring lead. Forward Greg Hurst and defender Talen Maples have netted five goals apiece in USLC play and each would undoubtedly enjoy earning club bragging rights. Hurst figures to get more opportunities down the stretch as all of Maples' tallies have come on penalty kicks. However, Maples scored two against Orange County on May 17. Maples also leads NMU in minutes played (2,058), followed by Will Seymore (1,939) and Mukwelle Akale (1,936). Seymore is the only player to appear in all 27 of United's games.

GOAL KICKS: United has slipped to second in the USLC in average home attendance at 9,723 per game after two of its last three home matches were not played on Saturdays. Sacramento (9,786), Louisville (9,495) and Indy (9,055) are the only league clubs averaging more than 9,000 per home game. Orange County (4,425) ranks 16th. United's final two matches fall on Sunday and Friday. ... NMU will be without midfielder Zico Bailey on Saturday. Bailey is representing the Philippine Men's National Football Team is Asian Cup Qualifiers on Oct. 9 and 14.