 Orange County and San Diego’ s subsequent wins meant that the Empire finished the season 2 matches out of first place.On March 6, 2018, the Empire announced that Fernández would return to coach the team for the second season in a row, in hopes of guiding the franchise to its first-ever trip to the WTT Finals.“We were one match away from making the finals,” said Fernández, “and we lost a few very close matches.