FCC’s head coach claims first monthly honor after a perfect month
CINCINNATI – FC Cincinnati’s Alan Koch was voted the United Soccer League’s Coach of the Month for September, the USL announced today. The award is Koch’s first Coach of the Month honor of 2018 after being nominated for the award in July and August.
In six league games last month, Koch led the Orange and Blue to a perfect 6-0-0 record. FC Cincinnati recorded wins over Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Louisville City FC, Toronto FC II, Penn FC, Richmond Kickers and Indy Eleven in that time and clinched the club’s first-ever USL Regular-Season Championship.
On Sept. 29, FCC set the USL’s win streak record at 10 matches when it defeated Indy, 3-0, at Nippert Stadium. The Orange and Blue have currently equaled the league’s record unbeaten run of 22 matches set by the Richmond Kickers in 2012.
In 2018, Koch has guided FC Cincinnati to a 23-3-7 record, setting league records for wins and points in a season.
The USL Coach of the Month award is voted upon by the USL National Media Panel and the USL Technical Committee, with each group responsible for 50 percent of the overall vote.
Koch earned September’s award with 73 percent of the vote, beating out Orange County SC’s Braeden Cloutier, who finished second in the voting with 23 percent of the vote after leading his side to the top of the Western Conference with a 4-0-1 record last month.
“To be quite honest, there’re no such things as individual awards,” said Koch. “Every individual award is about the team, and that’s why we built a very, very special team this year. It took a lot of work in the offseason to put it in place. Little accolades, like this for individuals, are really a testament to our entire group, to our coaching staff, to our players, to everybody involved within our organization. It’s been a fun, historic year so far. We’ve enjoyed the successes and hopefully we can continue this down the road.”
FC Cincinnati (23-3-7, 76 pts.) will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 13, when the team travels to Nashville to face Nashville SC at 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. CT). The match will be televised live on WSTR 64 and streamed live on ESPN+.
FCC will enter the 2018 USL Cup Playoffs as the tournament’s number one overall seed as the regular-season champion. The Orange and Blue will begin play when they host the Eastern Conference’s number eight seed at Nippert Stadium at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20. Tickets are on sale now.
For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team’s official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FCCincinnati. For more information about FC Cincinnati tickets - including 2018 USL Cup Playoffs tickets - call 513-977-KICK (5425) or visit fccincinnati.com/tickets.
