Lion Links: 9/30/19

Merry Monday morning, Mane Landers! For the first time since August of 2017 all three of Orlando City’s teams earned at least one point in the same weekend, with OCB winning on Friday and both the Pride and Lions drawing on Sunday with identical 1-1 scores.

Well, a draw is better than a loss, and New England’s win rendered Orlando City’s result moot anyway. Plus, the Lions don’t hold that most goals allowed record anymore, which is nice. I had a nice weekend paddling along the Suwannee River, which was also nice. Enough catching up, let’s get to the links!

Orlando City Out of the Playoffs

With the 1-1 draw at FC Cincinnati on Sunday evening, Orlando City is mathematically out of the playoff race. The Lions are now winless in seven matches as they close out the season. Benji Michel scored the goal to draw the Lions even in stoppage time, giving Cincinnati the record of most goals allowed in a season. While the draw drops Orlando City to 11th place in the Eastern Conference, there is still one last match to move up the standings, or at least play well in front of the home crowd at Exploria Stadium.

• Michael Citro has your match recap.
• The view from the other side comes from Cincinnati Soccer Talk.

Check back later today for Andrew Sharp’s player grades and Man of the Match as well as the five takeaways from the match, courtesy of The Bearded Guy.

Orlando Pride Can’t Hold On

The Orlando Pride traveled to Red Bull Arena to take on Sky Blue FC early Sunday. It was one of the better matches that the Pride have played, even scoring first on Shelina Zadorsky’s goal in the 18th minute. Unfortunately, the Pride’s poor set piece defending made an appearance in the 88th minute after a header from Carli Lloyd off a corner kick found its way in the net. The Pride host the Washington Spirit next Saturday at 5 p.m.

Sydney Leroux is Back

It was only for a few minutes at the end of the Pride’s match against Sky Blue, but Sydney Leroux made her first appearance for Orlando since going out for maternity leave and the birth of her and Dom Dwyer’s daughter, Roux James Dwyer. The entire stadium celebrated with the Pride and Roux made an appearance on the field in her mother’s arms afterward. Obviously, she won’t be fully match fit until next season, but to make it onto the pitch only three months after giving birth is something worth celebrating.

U.S. National Team Roundup

Speaking of Carli Lloyd, the United States Women’s National Team player said she would wait to see who U.S. Soccer hires to replace Jill Ellis before she makes a decision on whether to return to the national team. The USWNT will continue its World Cup victory tour in Charlotte, NC against the Korea Republic this Thursday. at 8 p.m.

On the men’s side, Zack Steffen is making the most of his time with Fortuna Düsseldorf. Steffen isn’t the only Yank playing abroad, with the likes of DeAndre Yedlin, Tim Ream, and Josh Sargent among a host of others getting playing time.

Free Kicks

• Kristen Edmonds made her 100th career NWSL appearance yesterday, and her family was there to see it.

• Former Pride player Chioma Ubogagu scored her first goal for Club Deportivo Tacón.

• Alejandro Bedoya suffered a quad injury in the Philadelphia Union’s 2-0 loss to the Columbus Crew.
• I couldn’t stomach doing a whole link for the ridiculousness that is Iran’s response to FIFA telling them that women must be allowed to attend soccer matches.
• Meanwhile, former USWNT and 99er goalkeeper Briana Scurry wants more women volunteering to coach at all levels of soccer in the U.S.
• Up here in Tallahassee, the Florida State University Women’s Soccer Team continued its winning ways with a 1-0 win over Syracuse. Meanwhile, the University of Central Florida women’s soccer team got its first conference win of the year by beating Tulsa 3-0 at home.

That will do it for the last Lion Links of September. Keep checking back, and if you’d like to write for The Mane Land, take a peek at this.