Orlando Pride at Sky Blue FC: Player Grades and Player of the Match

Even though it wasn’t quite a full year since the Orlando Pride got a victory, it felt like an eternity. Here we are though, with the team coming home from New Jersey with three points in a 2-1 victory over Sky Blue.

With that being said, the victory might have provided more questions than answers. So let’s go ahead and get to work breaking down each player’s performance and find our player of the match.

Starters

GK, Haley Kopmeyer, 6 — It was another consistently good shift from Kopmeyer. She always does solid work cutting out crosses, and even though she only notched four saves, her work in the air saved a lot of other balls from being dangerous.

D, Erin Greening, 4 — Greening led the team in touches with 75, and everyone else but Toni Pressley was below 60. So the involvement and work rate were there. As always. But…at one point I just stopped taking notes on the passes to no one, and the lost possessions. The second half was a bit better, but I’d like to see Greening and the midfield get a little bit more in sync.

D, Morgan Reid, 5 — With the second-best passing rate at 85.7% and the third-most passes, at 42, Reid played the ball to the sides quite a bit to maintain possession. On the defensive side, it was a solid performance until a poor attempt at a clearance resulted in the handball. Honestly, I’m not sure what else could have happened there, so I’m not knocking the grade down by much.

D, Toni Pressley, 7 (PotM) — Pressley’s 11 clearances stood out. There were two people specifically that kept this game from ever getting out of hand, and it was Kopmeyer and Pressley. Pressley just always seemed to be right where she was needed. Time and time again, getting the ball out of the box and onto the feet of a Pride player. She topped off a stellar defensive performance with the highest passing accuracy on the team, at 88.9%.

D, Carson Pickett, 6 — A couple of shots at goal in the first half added to yet another steady performance from Pickett. The ball in the 21st minute should have been a goal, but she put it right into the arms of DiDi Haracic.

MF, Joanna Boyles, 6 — It was not quite the performance we saw in Boyles’ previous match, but a decent night nonetheless. A shot on goal, a chance created, and a tie for the lead in tackles (with three) was more than enough to walk away from this one proud.

MF, Dani Weatherholt, 5 — Early, Weatherholt was the release valve for the defense, and she proved useful in that role a few times before needing to be subbed off. Hopefully, all is right and she’s back at it again for the next one.

MF, Marisa Viggiano, 6 — It was Viggiano’s best outing yet. She had a couple of brilliant moments with the ball at her feet, the pinnacle being weaving through four defenders and getting Gina Lewandowski to put the ball into her own net for the winning goal. This is what has been fun for me, watching her and the others grow in the last several weeks.

F, Chioma Ubogagu, 6.5 — The right side struggled to get the ball forward, and with that, the ball moved to Chi early and often. There were a couple of solid plays into the box that were met with equally solid plays from the opposition. But when it came time to bury the penalty kick, she did so with ease.

F, Danica Evans, 5 — Evans had the lowest passing rate as well as the fewest amount of touches among the starters (sans Weatherholt), culminating in an average night overall. That’s not necessarily an indictment on her, but even when she did have the ball, she was fouled five times, and just couldn’t get a rhythm.

F, Rachel Hill, 5.5 — I thought Hill was a lot calmer in this one with the ball at her feet, but as has been the case all of 2019, it just hasn’t worked out. Yet, I’m going to keep believing the dam will break until I’m no longer on this Earth.

Substitutes

MF, Bridget Callahan (25’), 5 — At 82.8% passing on 29 passes — decent enough numbers — there were times I just forgot she was on the field, and that’s with coming on early for the injured Weatherholt. This is primarily due to the Pride’s undying need to play out wide, but even still, I would have liked to have seen more involvement.

MF, Abby Elinsky (68’), 5 — In 22 minutes of play, Elinsky had 13 touches and completed all three of her passes. She was kind of everywhere in this one, but that seems to be her signature trait. Short of that, not much of an impact was made against a fairly organized Sky Blue FC.

All righty. All the veterans know what to do. If this is your first time, vote below on your player of the match, and let me have it if you disagree. But no matter our differences of opinion, three points are three points. And the Pride are no longer in last place.

Polling Closed