Published for AV Alta FC fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
⚽ AV Alta Fans — The Hangar Deserves One More Big Night!
The Antelope Valley’s own club: cup giant-killers who beat Orange County twice, put four past the New York Cosmos and play every home game for The 661. Joshua Green shirts, full voice — this is the desert’s team, and it wears its valley on the shirt.
The Club
AV Alta Football Club is the Antelope Valley’s team — announced on October 4, 2023, named and crested on May 17, 2024, and launched into USL League One in 2025, which makes 2026 its second season. “AV” is the valley’s own nickname and “Alta” means high: for the high desert, the region’s aerospace altitude and Alta California. The colors are Joshua Green and Desert Sand, drawn from the Joshua trees and the Mojave landscape, with a Poppy Orange accent — and the crest mirrors the California poppy while its angled “AV” lettering borrows the lines of the B-2 stealth bomber built in nearby Palmdale. The club was founded and is led by John Smelzer, a sports-business veteran who worked on the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Home is Lancaster Municipal Stadium — “The Hangar” — a 1996 baseball ballpark converted into a soccer-specific stadium for Alta’s debut, with a FIFA-quality synthetic pitch, a new east stand and “The 661” safe-standing supporters’ terrace behind the north goal, named for the valley’s area code. Capacity is 5,300, and the record crowd of 5,433 packed in against Westchester SC in April 2025.
The coach is Brian Kleiban, the club’s inaugural and only head coach, appointed in May 2024 out of an elite youth-development background that includes FC Barcelona’s academy system and roles connected with LAFC and Chivas USA. The club’s first-ever signing, in December 2024, was a statement of intent: Miguel Ibarra, a former U.S. international and MLS midfielder from the Antelope Valley itself.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#7 Desdunes — AV Alta Style Jersey
$59.99
The first goalscorer in club history and still its heartbeat. Deep Joshua Green with the Joshua-tree hem graphic — a fan-inspired take on Alta’s desert shirt.
Last Season (2025): One Point Short
AV Alta’s inaugural season was a genuine expansion success story with a heartbreaking ending. The club finished ninth of 14 — 8 wins, 12 draws, 10 losses, 36 points — exactly one point short of the playoffs, with eighth-placed Charlotte Independence taking the last spot by a single point. The season ended on the final day at Portland Hearts of Pine, where Eduardo Blancas scored two direct free kicks in a 2–2 draw that still was not enough.
The 2025 U.S. Open Cup became the club’s legend. In March, Alta beat Ventura County Fusion 3–1 for the first competitive win in club history — Jerry Desdunes scoring the first goal in club history, twice — then beat LAFC 2 on Jimmie Villalobos’s two extra-time goals, then knocked out USL Championship side Orange County SC on penalties. The run ended in the Round of 32 with a 3–1 defeat at MLS side FC Dallas, after Osvaldo Lay had leveled at 1–1. Blancas was the star of it all: All-League Second Team, June Player of the Month, the first hat trick in club history, and a USL League One single-season record of six direct free-kick goals. When he left for Monterey Bay FC in December, the hole he left behind framed everything about 2026.
Best Players Right Now
Jerry Desdunes — #7, attacking midfielder/forward. The Haitian winger is AV Alta’s heartbeat and its history-maker: he scored the first goal in club history in 2025, and in 2026 he leads the team creatively with eight league goals and a team-high seven assists. The club’s highest-rated performer — when Alta create, it usually runs through Desdunes.
Adam Aoumaich — #18, midfielder. The team’s top league scorer in 2026 with nine league goals, plus four assists. Signed from Union Omaha — where he won the 2024 League One title — he became Alta’s penalty-taker and late-game threat, from the USL Cup penalty that beat Phoenix Rising to the equalizer against Greenville in October.
Cesar Bahena Jr. — #99, midfielder. The iron man of 2026: a team-high 34 total appearances with four league goals and three assists after signing from the University of San Diego. His goals came in big spots — an 87th-minute strike in the win at Greenville, a goal in the comeback at One Knoxville, and the stoppage-time opener against Greenville in October.
Jimmie Villalobos — #21, central midfielder. The veteran engine and the club’s second-ever signing, with 27 league appearances in 2026 doing the midfield running that lets Desdunes and the Aoumaich brothers play. It was his two extra-time goals that beat LAFC 2 in the 2025 Open Cup.
Miguel Ibarra — #10, midfielder. The local legend and the club’s first-ever signing — the former U.S. international from the Lancaster area remains the face of the franchise even in a reduced 2026 role, with 24 league appearances mostly from the bench. His presence is a big part of why The Hangar draws the way it does.
Denzil Smith — #22, goalkeeper. The Trinidad & Tobago international was the club’s first goalkeeper signing and remains the clear No. 1, with 26 league appearances in 2026 behind an ever-changing defense — the last line of a team that asked a lot of him down the stretch.
Star Spotlight
The biggest league win in club history. May 23, 2026: AV Alta 4, New York Cosmos 0 at The Hangar. Godwin Antwi opened it at 8′, Aoumaich struck twice, and Santiago Higareda added the fourth. A famous name in American soccer, beaten 4–0 in the desert — still the high-water mark of Alta’s League One life.
The champions beaten on their own turf. July 18, 2026: down away at defending champions One Knoxville SC, Alta roared back to win 3–2 through Bahena, Desdunes and a 75th-minute Aoumaich winner. It was the last great night of the season before the autumn collapse — proof of what this squad could do at its best.
The first hat trick. June 28, 2025, against FC Naples at The Hangar: after Desdunes’ opener, Eduardo Blancas scored a second-half hat trick in a 4–1 win — the first hat trick in club history, in the middle of his Player of the Month June and his league-record free-kick season. Alta lore, forever.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Alta stars, same Joshua Green and sand.
This Season (2026): Two Seasons in One
AV Alta sit 13th of 17 on 33 points — 8 wins, 9 draws, 14 losses — and the playoffs are gone. But the bare table hides a strange year. Through the summer this was a genuine playoff contender: ninth after 26 matches, powered by home wins over Forward Madison and Sarasota, a 4–0 demolition of the New York Cosmos, a first-ever win over Spokane Velocity, and that 3–2 comeback at the defending champions in Knoxville. Then the bottom fell out: a seven-match losing run from August 15 to October 3 — the longest losing streak in the league this season — including a 5–0 defeat at Charlotte, and Alta are winless in nine league matches heading into the finale. Their last win was a 3–0 over Fort Wayne on August 8.
The cups kept the giant-killing habit alive even as the league form died: USL Cup wins at The Hangar over two USL Championship clubs, Orange County SC and Phoenix Rising, even if the group stage was as far as it went. The Open Cup, though, flipped the 2025 script — a first-round home defeat to UPSL side Valley 559 FC. The honest summary: the Blancas-shaped hole in the attack was never fully filled, and a young squad’s season split clean in two. The finale is about pride, position, and giving The 661 one more night to sing about.
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Mark Your Calendar
Saturday, October 24, 2026 — vs Corpus Christi FC, Lancaster Municipal Stadium (7:30 p.m. PT). The regular-season finale at The Hangar. Both clubs are eliminated, AV Alta cannot climb out of 13th’s neighborhood — so this one is purely about ending a strange season the right way and sending the home crowd into winter with a win.
October 30 – November 1, 2026 — USL League One Quarterfinals. Alta will be watching this year, but the bracket shapes the winter conversation: the top eight qualify and the format is single-elimination, with the higher seed hosting round by round.
November 6–8, 2026 — Semifinals. Four clubs, two places in the Final.
November 13–15, 2026 — the USL League One Final window. The title game that closes the league’s season. League One matches air across CBS Sports platforms, ESPN networks, ESPN+ and TUDN.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Spokane Velocity FC — the most-played early rival. No club frustrated Alta more: Spokane were unbeaten in the first four meetings — three wins and a draw — before Alta finally broke through with a 1–0 home win on June 13, 2026, a landmark result in the club’s best month of the season. Five meetings in two years, and the desert finally has its win.
2. Orange County SC — the California cup rivalry. A USL Championship neighbor an hour and a half down the freeway, and AV Alta keep ruining their cups: the 2025 Open Cup penalty-shootout win at Lancaster, one of the results of that tournament, then a 2–1 USL Cup win in June 2026 with Collin Anderson and Ilias Aoumaich scoring either side of Tom Brewitt’s opener. Two meetings, two Alta wins.
3. Athletic Club Boise — the West’s newest clash. The two western stories of the 2026 map produced two thrillers: a 2–2 draw in Lancaster in April, with Aoumaich and Desdunes scoring for Alta, and a 2–1 Boise win in October before a club-record 7,254 crowd, Jesús Barea’s brace outgunning Aoumaich’s late reply. An honorable mention for Portland Hearts of Pine — the fellow 2025 expansion class whose draw with Alta on the final day of 2025 ended Alta’s first playoff dream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does AV Alta FC play, and what is the stadium like?
Lancaster Municipal Stadium — “The Hangar” — at 45116 Valley Central Way in Lancaster, California. Opened in 1996 as a baseball ballpark, the old home of the Lancaster JetHawks, it was converted into a soccer-specific stadium for AV Alta’s 2025 debut, with a FIFA-quality synthetic-turf pitch, a 1,000-seat east stand and “The 661” safe-standing supporters’ terrace behind the north goal. Capacity is listed at 5,300, and the record crowd is 5,433, set against Westchester SC on April 5, 2025.
Who is AV Alta FC’s best player?
Haitian winger Jerry Desdunes (No. 7) — the scorer of the first goal in club history in 2025, who in 2026 leads the team with seven assists alongside eight goals and is its highest-rated performer. Midfielder Adam Aoumaich (No. 18) is the club’s top league scorer in 2026 with nine goals. Historically, the club’s biggest star was Eduardo Blancas — the 2025 All-League midfielder whose league-record six direct free-kick goals in a season earned him a move up to Monterey Bay FC.
What trophies has AV Alta FC won?
None yet — the club has played two seasons without silverware, missing the League One playoffs both years, by a single point in 2025. Its claim to fame so far is cup giant-killing: a 2025 U.S. Open Cup run to the Round of 32 that included a penalty-shootout win over Orange County SC and a 3–1 defeat at MLS side FC Dallas, plus USL Cup wins over Orange County and Phoenix Rising in 2026.
How can I get tickets or watch AV Alta FC?
Tickets are sold through avaltafc.com, with single-match listings also carried by the usual ticketing platforms. Matches stream nationally on ESPN+ under the USL’s broadcast deal, with League One games also appearing across CBS Sports Network, the CBS Sports Golazo Network, ESPN networks and TUDN.
⚽ AV Alta Fan Shop
The full Alta trio — Desdunes, Aoumaich and Bahena, fan-inspired in Joshua Green.
Sources & official links: AV Alta FC official site · USL League One official site · AV Alta tickets
Joshua green, desert loud, one more night at The Hangar — come on Alta.
