Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride vs. North Carolina Couarge: Final Score 1-1 as Pride Drop Points on Another Last-Second Goal
The Pride conceded a second-half stoppage time goal for the third straight game to draw the Courage at home.
The Orlando Pride opened their 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup campaign by conceding another late goal at Exploria Stadium, but this time they pulled out a point against the North Carolina Courage. Ally Watt gave the Pride (0-0-1, 1 point in the NWSL Challenge Cup) their first lead of the year early in the second half, but Denise O’Sullivan equalized for North Carolina (0-0-1, 1 point) deep in second-half stoppage time, resulting in a 1-1 draw.
Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made six changes to the team that lost 2-0 to NJ/NY Gotham FC over the weekend. After Kaylie Collins started in goal Saturday night, Carly Nelson got her first minutes in goal for the Pride tonight. Tori Hansen, Megan Montefusco, Viviana Villacorta, and Summer Yates also started for the first time this year. The back line in front of Nelson was Hansen, and Montefusco in the middle, between fullbacks Emily Madril, and Kylie Strom. Villacorta and Mikayla Cluff were the defensive midfielders, with Yates, Erika Tymrak, and Watt in the attacking midfield, and Messiah Bright up top.
“We wanted to use this as an opportunity to give players game time,” Hines said about the six changes. “And the ones who haven’t played the last couple of games to get out there and play. We got hit with the injury bug. And we had to really manage players going into this game. You know, there were some players that suffered a couple of injuries after the Gotham game. We had a few injuries after training and it was ultimately just trying to manage players.”
The Pride got off to an attacking start in this game, but were unable to connect passes in the final third. In the third minute, Watt used her speed to dash down the right wing and send the ball towards the top of the six-yard box. It was a good cross, but she was well out in front of her teammates and her cross was sent in too early and easily cleared.
The visitors got their first attempt of the night in the fifth minute when Kerolin took a shot from the top of the box. She had space, but her effort was low and relatively soft, creating no trouble for Nelson to make her first official save as a member of the Pride.
After attempting to use Watt’s speed on the wing didn’t work, the Pride tried to send her through on goal from the midfield. In the eighth minute, Tymrak played a good ball forward, looking for the speedster to beat the center backs and goalkeeper Casey Murphy. Unfortunately, it was a little too far for her.
O’Sullivan sent Kerolin into the Pride box in the 16th minute and it looked like the Brazilian international would get a shot on goal. But Madril, playing right back instead of her usual center back position, did well to get in front of the shot and block it out for the game’s first corner kick.
The ensuing corner by Ryan Williams was headed out by Montefusco, but it went right to Kerolin at the top of the box. The midfielder sent in either a cross or a shot, but it went over the goal, giving the Pride a goal kick.
The Pride had their best chance of the early portion of the game in the 22nd minute, created by Watt. The attacker initially lost possession to Malia Berkely, but immediately won it back and sent a low cross into the box. It found Bright at the top of the six, but her first touch was too heavy, resulting in the loss of possession.
After attempting to create chances for Watt and Bright, Yates took her first shot in the 32nd minute. Bright played the ball back to her fellow rookie at the top left corner of the 18 and the fourth-round pick took an ambitious attempt. But O’Sullivan was too close, blocking it with relative ease.
In the 34th minute, Strom pushed forward down the left and got a cross off into the North Carolina box. Watt was making a run, but couldn’t connect with it and the ball skipped through, allowing the Courage to clear it.
North Carolina had a good chance in the 41st minute when a Williams cross was blocked, but went right out to Tyler Lussi. It looked like the midfielder had a clear look at goal, but her shot hit the back of O’Sullivan.
That was the last decent chance of the half as the game went into halftime scoreless. There was little action in the first 45 minutes, with North Carolina logging more possession (58.1%-41.9%), shots (5-1), shots on goal (1-0), corners (1-0), and passing accuracy (85.9%-81.4%). The Pride ended the first half with more duels won (28-22) and both teams had three crosses.
North Carolina got the first chance of the second half in the 49th minute. It was started by O’Sullivan, who sent a low cross into the six-yard box. Montefusco was there but couldn’t clear it and Lussi beat a flat-footed Strom to the ball. Lussi attempted to redirect the cross on target with her first touch, but it went wide of the goal.
The Courage had a quick flurry of chances in the 53rd minute when O’Sullivan sent Berkely into the Pride box. The right back attempted to cross it for Kerolin, but Montefusco was there to make the block. The ball went right back to Berkely, who shot again. This time, Nelson knocked it out for a Courage corner.
The ensuing corner kick ended up with Kerolin just outside of the box. The playmaker cut inside and was taken down by Kerry Abello, who came on for Cluff at halftime. Kerolin decided to take the kick herself and went for goal. The shot was on target, but Nelson blocked it away, enabling the Pride to clear.
Two minutes later, the Pride broke the deadlock. In the 56th minute, a long set piece by Nelson found Yates and the rookie quickly played Watt behind the North Carolina defense. Murphy came out to cut down Watt’s angle and got a piece of the ball, but she didn’t get enough of it and the ball bounced in to give the Pride the 1-0 lead.
“I know she’s gonna make that run in behind. I love that slip ball to her,” Yates said about the goal. “Ally’s so fast it makes my job easy. Just finding the gaps and, yeah, we’ve studied it a lot and we did it a lot in training.”
Right off the kickoff it looked like the Pride would give up their lead. Kerolin sprinted down the field and into the Pride box. Hansen was tracking back to defend and the attacker was near the end line so she cut back. Hansen went down, and the ball hit her arm. Referee Gabriele Giusti immediately pointed to the spot, awarding North Carolina a penalty.
Fortunately for the Pride, Giusti received an alert from the video assistant referee to go to the replay monitor and have another look at the play. After a review of over four minutes, Giusti returned to the field waving his arms, signaling no penalty, and allowing the Pride to avoid conceding a penalty in three consecutive games.
In the 64th minute, a clearance attempt by the Pride only went as far as Lussi at the top of the box. The midfielder took a shot towards goal, but missed just over the crossbar.
Three minutes later, Abello went to her knee with an injury. The Pride medical staff came out to look at her and ultimately took her straight back to the locker room. The Courage got a shot off from Ratcliffe, while the Pride were a player down, but it was blocked and Abello was replaced by Maliah Morris, who signed as an injury replacement on Tuesday. Hines also decided to make another change in addition to the Abello sub, bringing on Haley McCutcheon for Villacorta.
Ratcliffe nearly tied the game in the 72nd minute when a lovely turn beat Madril, taking her behind the Pride defense. Her shot towards the far post was beyond the reach of Nelson, but missed just wide.
The Courage had another chance in the 76th minute when a Berkely cross nearly connected with Ratcliffe at the near post, but she couldn’t get her foot to it. However, it went straight to Kerolin at the far post, but she couldn’t get on the end of the pass either and the Pride escaped.
The Pride finally created another chance in the 80th minute when Bright won a 50-50 ball and played it off for Yates. The attacker shielded her defender, dribbling into the Courage box and fired, but missed wide of the right post.
In the 82nd minute, Hines made the Pride’s fourth change, bringing on Adriana for Tymrak and it didn’t take long for the Brazilian to get involved. Two minutes after coming on, she completed a long run and sent the ball for Bright making a run into the box. But it was a little too far for the rookie.
In the 88th minute, substitute Rikke Madsen played Kerolin past Montefusco and into the Pride box. It was a game-defining moment for Nelson, who stood tall and made an excellent save to maintain the 1-0 lead.
The Courage continued their pressure in the 89th minute when the Pride couldn’t clear a Narumi Miura corner. It ended up at the foot of Williams, but she seemed unprepared for it and could only knock it out for a goal kick.
As the game entered second-half injury time, the fourth official Richonne Clark showed eight minutes. The visitors needed a goal, so they pushed forward, opening up the game and providing multiple chances for both teams in the final minutes.
The first chance came two minutes into injury time when quick passing by Kerolin and Madsen found Muira in the box. But McCutcheon did well to slide in and block it away.
With most of the North Carolina team pushed forward, the Pride quickly went the other way. Bright played a nice ball across the field to Watt on the right, giving her enough room to get a shot off, but Sydney Collins was there to block it.
Seven minutes into injury time, Madsen found O’Sullivan, who took a shot on goal from the top of the box, but it was right at Nelson, who fell on the ball.
On the other end, Adriana received the ball and made a long run into the Courage box. She was aiming for the far post, but her shot was too close to Murphy, who got down to knock the ball away.
As the eighth minute of stoppage time wound down, Strom fouled Ratcliffe on the Courage half of the field, giving the visitors a last attack into the Pride half. Looking for a last-minute equalizer and with only seconds remaining, they desperately attempted to keep the ball around the Pride box. Collins lifted the ball wide to Ratcliffe to create a final cross, which Madril was able to clear. But it only went to O’Sullivan at the top of the box. The Courage captain got over the ball, sending a direct shot past Nelson for the equalizer in the 99th minute.
“I had, I don’t know how many players in front of me, but the ball popped out I think just perfectly and there was a line of players,” Nelson said about the goal. “It may have had a deflection, I don’t know. But the ball, I couldn’t see it until it was in the back of the net.”
It’s the third consecutive week that the Pride have conceded in second-half injury time, though that goal nine minutes into stoppage time was the earliest of the three — the last four goals Orlando has conceded in competitive play came in the 99th, 107th, 100th, and 100th minutes. It also robbed the Pride of their first win of 2023.
Statistically, North Carolina dominated the game, ending with more possession (65.2%-34.8%), shots (18-6), shots on goal (6-2), corners (8-2), crosses (20-5), and passing accuracy (86%-73.2%).
“Feels like the weekend,” Hines said. “You know, I think that the players were tremendous. They put the work in, they were brilliant. They stuck to the game plan. You know, you take a 1-0 lead, we have to learn. That’s the only way that we can develop is that we have to learn from these moments that can’t keep happening. Put ourselves in a really good position to win the game and, you know, we’ve fallen short again. And we’re just repeating ourselves at the moment.”
“It just comes down to focus and game management,” Yates added about conceding late again. “We’re a young team and we could have probably done a better job of going into the corner, stalling a little longer, keeping the ball, winning the 50-50 balls on clearances, stuff like that that we need to learn from. We’re a young team and we’re going to watch this game back and we’re going to fix our mistakes.”
It’s been the same story for the Pride in their first three home games of 2023. They’ve struggled to convert on the attacking end and conceded late goals to drop points. Fortunately, they had a lead heading into second-half stoppage time tonight, so they still managed to pull out a point instead of dropping all three.
The Pride will look to bounce back from another devastating result when they hit the road to face the Kansas City Current in regular-season play on Sunday.