Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit: Player Grades and Player of the Match

Marta and the Pride provided an onslaught on Saturday night that the Spirit couldn’t contain in the end. After letting in an early, undefended, goal, the Pride put a couple in of their own to take all the points. It’s that time again, to break the team down and see who our player of the match is.

Starters

GK, Ashlyn Harris, 7 — Harris was solid throughout the match and defended the goal well. The one that got past her should have been defended by someone, anyone else, on the far post. All around, the usual tough play from Harris on the night.

D, Ali Krieger, 6.5 — Speaking of that back post, Ali was on it before the corner kick, and as the kick came in, she left for some reason before floating back (at this point, too late). Besides that flub, she had a great match, leading the team in touches and passes, and putting in a couple of dangerous crosses. She almost got a goal of her own minutes after the Spirit’s, when a corner landed at her feet, but the shot bounced way above the net.

D, Monica, 7.5 — Monica had a great night in the back, leading the team in passing accuracy with a 93.2% mark. In the second half, she got far enough forward to get on the end of a brilliant flick from Chioma Ubogagu and put a shot on target.

D, Shelina Zadorsky, 7 — Like Monica, Shelina was part of a pretty solid back line that didn’t allow much of a Washington attack. She put a huge ball forward in the 27th minute to Marta, that got to Chi for a great shot on goal.

D, Carson Pickett, 7 — Carson too had a good match. A couple of chances created, a couple of key tackles, and a solid passing rate of 86%. She missed her mark, Andi Sullivan, in the 63rd that could have been an easy goal for the Spirit, had Andi gotten on the end of it.

MF, Emily van Egmond, 6.5 — Emily started off great, being involved in a lot of good plays, but she appeared to quickly run out of steam as the match went on. Her touches became softer, and she wasn’t able to get involved as much. She did create a few chances, it just wasn’t one of her better showings.

MF, Alanna Kennedy, 7 — In the final minutes of the first half, Kennedy advanced on a bad pass and slotted it right in to Sydney Leroux, who then snuck it into the net. The rest of her night, she had a couple more good looks forward, and did enough in the middle of the field to disrupt the Spirit’s play. Of course, she also had to say hello to her old friend, the crossbar, on an 80th minute header.

MF, Christine Nairn, 6 — This was an all right night for Nairn in my opinion. A few of her passes weren’t quite what we’ve seen in recent weeks and the frustration showed in the 29th minute when a pass was just a bit off to a sprinting Krieger. There were moments though when she had command of the attack and got good balls to Marta, and then immediately Chi to keep the pressure on Washington.

F, Sydney Leroux, 7.5 — A very good night for Syd, who continued to work hard all over the pitch. With that being said though, she was forward a lot more often in this one than what we’ve gotten used to, and I think it showed in the attack. The numbers say it all: nine shots taken, four on target, and three chances created, a goal and an assist. A couple of good Aubrey Bledsoe saves kept her from getting more.

F, Marta, 8.5 (PotM) — From the start of the whistle, Marta willed this team forward. Playing up top, she constantly put herself in the right spot, and took 11 shots, with five on target. Not only that, she spread the wealth and created a total of eight chances on the night. The goal? You all have seen it. Amazing, amazing, amazing work. The best performance by purple I’ve seen all year.

F, Chioma Ubogagu, 6.5 — Chi had a few good moments that just didn’t pan out. And both her shots were great stops by Bledsoe. This was one of her better matches in my opinion. I thought Marta got left hanging a couple of times, particularly on Chi’s side of the box when a play would suddenly spring forward. Always good hustling, but just a couple of times when she wasn’t in position.

Substitutes

MF, Camila (65’), 5.5 — I’ll put Camila slightly above average on the night. It was her first time back since going down in last year’s season finale. She took a few shots, all off target, and only got a handful of touches and passes in. I think we all look forward to seeing more.

MF, Dani Weatherholt (66’), 6.5 — A strange one to watch Dani in, because she was often forward and attacking on the left side, which was definitely fun to see. There was a four-minute span that started in the 76th minute where she put in two crosses, the first cutting across the middle of the box perfectly, where no one was (and they should have been). The second was perfectly sent to Syd, who tried to go near post but stopped by Bledsoe. Before both of those, she put a rocket in the back of the net that was called off, because of a “foul” by Camila a split second before.

F, Rachel Hill (72’), 5.5 — Because of Dani getting forward on the left so much, not much happened on Rachel’s side of the pitch. She only got in seven touches and five passes on a very quiet night.

There you have it. If for some reason you thought someone else was better than Marta on the night, let me have it in the comments below!

Polling Closed