Lion Links: 8/13/17

Happy Sunday, Mane Land Nation! And a very happy 29th birthday to Orlando City midfielder Servando Carrasco.

Last night was ²⁄₃ of the way to a great evening of Orlando City soccer. The young Lions won on the road to extend their unbeaten streak to eight. The Pride climbed above the playoff line with a 5-0 beatdown of Sky Blue. But odd things happen in New Jersey, and so it was last night. We’ll get into that in today’s Lion Links.

Orlando City Drops Road Match at NYRB

The Lions came out with energy and intensity and led the Red Bulls after 18 minutes. But then the game got weird. Orlando scored a goal for the hosts, which allowed them to settle down. The Lions hit a crossbar, missed a myriad of near chances, gave up two more goals, and then saw the captain get sent off for messing with his friend. It was weird. On the plus side, Yoshi Yotun was outstanding for only having been with the team a few days. Here’s what you need to know from the match:

• I wrote up your match recap.
• Gavin Ewbank has player grades and Man of the Match.

And check back later this morning for Dave Rohe’s five takeaways from the game.

Orlando Pride Dump Sky Blue FC, 5-0

Alex Morgan scored a brace. Marta scored a brace. Dani Weatherholt scored her first professional goal. Maddy Evans made a memorable final appearance before retirement, nearly scoring from the penalty spot. Ashlyn Harris returned and kept a clean sheet. The Pride set new club records for fastest goal (four minutes) and most goals (five) in a game. It was a complete performance, as Tom Sermanni said, as the Orlando Pride laid waste to Sky Blue FC, 5-0, to move (at least temporarily) above the NWSL playoff line.

OCB Unbeaten in Eight Games After 1-0 Win at Richmond

The young Lions went to City Stadium in Richmond, VA, and came home with all three points. OCB got a Hadji Barry goal in the first half and a whole lot of Earl Edwards Jr. to preserve a 1-0 win at the Richmond Kickers. The win makes eight games without a loss and snaps a string of six consecutive draws for the young Lions, who are home Wednesday against Ottawa.

Dom Dwyer and one Man in Blazer

Dom Dwyer will join Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers at the Lion’s Pride pub this Thursday for what is essentially the recording of a podcast with a live audience. The event starts at 7 p.m. and doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Ashlyn Harris Uses Lessons from her Past to Help Fans

This is a great story. Ashlyn Harris found a kindred spirit in charity founder Jamie Tworkowski. The founder of the To Write Love on Her Arms charity provides help for those who are suffering from depression or battling addiction, or having suicidal thoughts. Harris, who witnessed the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, has had her own struggles in life.

“At the time, I was starting to get heavily addicted to Adderall, big time, and it wasn’t for ADHD,” Harris said. “Started having a ton of injuries, started losing a lot of weight, all these different things. And in that moment, everything came to a realization like, ‘Wow.’ He just started telling me how passionate he was about telling his story and his depression. And ya know, addiction, suicide, all these different things and how it’s so frowned upon to talk about.”

In the piece, Harris talks about how her lack of sense of belonging, because of her family situation, led her to seek out groups to belong to. It’s a fascinating insight into the Pride’s keeper and I highly recommend it. Nice job by Alicia DelGallo of the Sentinel, and a peek behind the curtain the Pride keeper.

Free Kicks

• Orlando hosted the 12th-best attended summer friendly in the U.S. in 2017 when PSG and Spurs played at Camping World Stadium (33,322) a few weeks ago. If you discount games involving at least one of Barcelona, Real Madrid, or a Manchester EPL team, it moves up to No. 4. Not bad.
• Tag Heuer offers smartwatch users to customize their dials with their favorite MLS team.
• Chelsea opened its Premier League title defense by getting two men sent off and losing at home to Burnley, 3-2.
• FourFourTwo asks if video review will create a divide among referees.
• Hertha Berlin and U.S. youth international goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann will miss several weeks with ligament damage in his ankle.
• Those born on this date include Annie Oakley (1860), Alfred Hitchcock (1899), golf legend Ben Hogan (1912), Fidel Castro (1926), One Day at a Time actor Pat Harrington (1929), Hawaiian crooner Don Ho (1930), hockey’s Bobby Clarke (1949), Dan Fogelberg (1951), The Leftovers writer Tom Perrotta (1961), Mad Men actor John Slattery (1962), baseball’s Jay Buhner — bane of Frank Costanza — (1964), and Rangers midfielder Niko Kranjčar (1984),

That’s all the time I have today. Please enjoy what’s left of your weekend. I leave you with this joyful youngster’s reaction to Huddersfield Town winning in its Premier League debut on Saturday: