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Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit: Final Score 3-0 as Pride Dominate the Spirit On the Road

The Orlando Pride went on the road and took all three points against the Washington Spirit thanks to a brace from Julie Doyle.

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1 year ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

The Orlando Pride (5-8-1, 16 points) returned to their winning ways by going on the road and winning 3-0 against the Washington Spirit (6-3-5, 23 points) at Audi Field. Julie Doyle bagged the first brace of her young career by scoring twice early on. An own goal caused by a cross from Ally Watt in the second half gave the Pride their third goal and the defense held on for its third shutout of the year.

The Pride have now swept the Spirit in regular season play — an impressive feat as the Spirit have spent most of the season near the top of the table.

Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made a few changes to the starting lineup he used in the 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Current last weekend. Marta and Adriana are with Brazil in preparation for the Women’s World Cup this month and were replaced in the attack by Messiah Bright and Doyle. Erika Tymrak also started, with Jordyn Listro back on the bench.

The Pride played in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Anna Moorhouse in goal behind a back line of Kylie Strom, Emily Madril, Megan Montefusco, and Haley McCutcheon. Viviana Villacorta and Mikayla Cluff served as the team’s defensive midfielders, with Doyle, Tymrak, and Kelly Abello creating chances for Bright up top. This was McCutcheon’s 100th regular-season appearance in the NWSL, and she served as the team’s captain.

A lengthy weather delay before kickoff didn’t stop the Pride from starting the game with plenty of energy. They found success early on, especially when attacking through the left wing. It only took eight minutes for the Pride to take the lead. After earning a throw-in, Bright did well to hold off her defender and get the ball to Strom, who made a nice cross that bounced in front of goal and found McCutcheon’s head right in front of goal. Spirit goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart came up with a save, but the Spirit couldn’t cleanly clear away the danger. The ball fell to Doyle in the box and she buried it on the half-volley for her first goal of this season.

“The way that we started the game was brilliant,” Hines said regarding the team’s hot start despite the weather delay. “Going after them full of energy and creating momentum, and actually scoring with that momentum that we haven’t seen in the past couple of games, that was a real focal point for us.”

The Pride nearly doubled their lead in the 13th minute when Bright got a powerful header on the end of a corner kick from Abello. The striker’s shot ended up in the back of the net, but the referee blew the whistle for interference that prevented Barnhart from making a play on the cross.

But it didn’t take long for the Pride to find that second goal, as Doyle continued to find room to work her magic on the left. After a nice move to get some separation from her defender, she whipped in a nice cross. Although Cluff wasn’t able to get her head to it in front of goal, her run was enough to force Barnhart into anticipating a shot and the ball curled into the inside netting. Tymrak was credited with the assist, her 20th in her professional career.

“What you saw today is her with a real intent to go after defenders,” Hines said about Doyle’s performance. “Be threatening in the attack and transition, be decisive with her decisions, driving at defenders, getting shots off, being clinical. That’s what we want from all the forwards. You’ve got an opportunity, you must take it, and she took it tonight.”

Doyle missed a majority of the season due to injury and has been easing her way back into action.

“It felt so good,” she said about her first brace. “We needed that. I needed that. There’s been a lot of pressure on getting an end product and so, to finally get three goals, to get a shutout, you definitely saw a team performance tonight and I’m so proud of everyone.

“It doesn’t stop after one goal. I made a small goal tonight to at least get two. Losing Marta and Adriana is a huge loss for us, so I think everyone realized that and knew that we all had to step it up and I think that’s what we did tonight.”

In need of goals themselves, the Spirit went on the attack. With many of their attacking players away with the United States, the Spirit relied on getting long balls over Orlando’s back line to reach Ashley Hatch. The American forward had a good opportunity in the 21st minute by driving in a low cross to Lena Silano, but Silano couldn’t get a piece of it.

Although the Spirit were starting to more effectively impose themselves on the match, the Pride still found chances to extend their lead. In the 29th minute, pressure from Bright in the box caused a poor clearance from Tara McKeown and Abello was there to intercept it in the box. The midfielder put her first shot of the match on frame and Barnhart had to tip it over the bar for a corner kick.

The Spirit’s first shot of the match didn’t come until the 32nd minute. Hatch laid the ball off for Ines Juarena to have a go from distance, and the French midfielder’s shot skipped wide of goal.

Abello had another chance in the 34th after Bright used some skill and speed to get downfield and find her at the top of the box. This time, Abello’s shot wasn’t on target and went well over the crossbar.

The Pride didn’t slow down their push to score and Doyle had a chance for a hat trick in the 40th minute by driving a headed shot towards goal that went inches wide of the post.

Both teams had chances after the referee indicated there would be three minutes of stoppage time before halftime. Hatch continued to facilitate things for the Spirit and played a nice ball in for Nicole Douglas on the right side, but the cross harmlessly went out for a goal kick.

A minute later and the Pride were on the attack once again. Doyle blocked a clearance, chased down the ball before it could go out of play, and then raced down the wing. Bright made a good decision to find a pocket of space away from the mouth of goal instead of continuing her run, and Doyle found her wide open. Her shot was on target, but deflected out for a corner, which the Pride couldn’t capitalize on before the halftime whistle blew. Doyle and the rest of the Pride offense were electric throughout the first half, playing with the same energy no matter what the score was.

“The best defense is a good offense, so if we can keep the ball in our attacking half then we’ll make everyone’s life easier,” Doyle said following the match. “I think that we know that we can do that and if we’re going at them, why let off?” 

Although the Pride had less possession (45.5%-54.5), they bossed the Spirit for a majority of the first half. They finished the first half with nine shots, putting four of the on target, while none of the Spirit’s three shots were on target. The Pride had a clear advantage on the wings and funneled their attack out wide often, leading the Spirit in crosses (14-2) and taking more corners (5-1). Orlando also had better passing accuracy (76.4%-74.4%).

The Spirit made a pair of changes at halftime, bringing in attackers Chloe Ricketts and Civana Kuhlmann for Douglas and Amber Brooks. Ricketts made her presence felt quickly, surging down the wing until taken down by a challenge from Abello that earned her the first yellow card of the match.

Madril misplayed a pass back to Moorhouse that had nowhere near enough power behind it, giving Hatch a golden opportunity in the 57th minute. Montefusco’s rush to close down on Hatch didn’t stop the Spirit forward from easing around her slide tackle, but it gave Madril enough time to recover and Hatch’s shot was sent sailing into the stands.

Doyle came off for Ally Watt before the ensuing goal kick took place and it didn’t take long for the substitute to make an impact. Abello found Watt in space and the forward used her speed to get down the wing and serve up a low cross that deflected off of McKeown and into her own net. It’ll ultimately go down as an own goal, but Watt did well to put the ball in a dangerous area.

“There were a couple times where we were pinned back,” Hines said, “but there was a lot of good concentration and focus on the task. A two-goal lead is always difficult, that next goal is the most important. I’m glad in the second hald we got that next goal and from there we seemed pretty focused and comfortable.”

The Pride made their second change in the 64th minute, with Celia replacing Bright as the Pride aimed to close the game out. Bright performed well in this match, particularly when holding up play for other players to get involved in the attack.

A long ball from McKeown found Hatch in the Pride’s half and Hatch beat Montefusco to go on the attack. Although the Pride had players behind the ball, Montefusco brought Hatch down and received a yellow card. It was a strange foul to commit considering Hatch was alone with Pride players ready to defend. The Pride didn’t pay the price for it though as they were able to handle the ensuing free kick.

The Spirit had another dangerous free kick in the 70th minute after a flurry of attacks and they created yet another opportunity for Hatch. Sam Staab curled in a venomous cross and a diving header from Hatch certainly had enough power behind it, but it went wide of goal.

The Pride then had a chance of their own from a set piece of their own soon after. A long ball into the box from Montefusco in the center circle found Watt, who headed it down for Cluff right in front of goal. Cuff took her shot quickly, but Staab did well to deflect it. The rebound went to Watt, who sent her shot over the goal.

Madril then got some redemption for her miscue earlier by putting herself between a long ball over the top and Hatch. The defender showed plenty of strength to hold off the veteran attacker, who received a yellow card for bringing Madril down.

The Pride refused to stay on the back foot against the Spirit. Watt and Cluff continued to attack out wide, but Barnhart and the rest of the Spirit defense prevented them from widening the lead any further. A cross from Cluff was snuffed out by Barnhart and a nice cutback pass from Watt didn’t wind up with a shot taken.

Moorhouse started to get more involved in things as the Spirit got more desperate to score. Hatch slipped a through ball to Camryn Biegalski, but Moorhouse closed down the angle and Biegalski dribbled it out of play trying to work around the goalkeeper. Moorhouse then came up with a save against Kuhlmann in the 82nd minute, jumping to parry the ball over the crossbar and out for a corner. The goalkeeper punched away the first corner for another, which ended up as a goal kick after a missed shot.

The Pride had a few more chances to truly put the game to rest. Watt had a decent opportunity in space, but sent her shot well off target from a tough angle. Abello was a bit closer with her shot from a free kick a minute later, not missing the top right corner of the goal by much.

Hines made his final changes in stoppage time, with Amanda Allen and Brianna Martinez coming on for Tymrak and Abello.

Moorhouse secured her clean sheet with a save against Hatch and the Pride were able to hold on for the 3-0 victory.

At full time, the Pride had less possession (44%-56%) but did much more with the ball. They finished the game with more shots (12-9), putting four of them on target while the Spirit put just two on frame. The Spirit created more chances in the second half than the first, but the Pride still had more crosses (27-9) and both teams had five corner kicks. The Spirit also had better passing accuracy (81.7%-79.9%), but the Pride dominated in the one stat that matters most in the 3-0 win.

“Seb [Hines] said from the beginning that he was just going to expect more out of us, ” Cluff said after the win. “We know what we’re capable of. We’ve shown it in spurts throughout the season and we can play such quality soccer and beat the best of the best. But it just kind of comes down to our determination and our desire when we step on the field every single game, no matter who we’re playing. So that was kind of the message going into this game and I think that we obviously accomplished that tonight.

This was just the Pride’s second win away from Exploria Stadium this season and snapped a two-game losing skid after defeats to the North Carolina Courage and Kansas City Current. Hines spoke on how the Pride took all three points on the road against one of the league’s best teams.

“[Tonight} was more about ourselves. We needed to have a reaction after the last two defeats. Recently, we haven’t been ourselves and going to an environment like Washington, it’s difficult, of course. But, we wanted to come here with loads of energy, loads of desire, commitment, and put a real good performance together for our fans, because they deserve it. The players know it, as well, we haven’t been ourselves. Go back to our identity and when we show what we’re capable of doing, that’s where you get your success. So I was really pleased with, the not just the goals, but their overall performance and their attitude leading into this game.”

The Pride will turn their attention to Friday’s match against OL Reign at Exploria Stadium before the break in regular-season action for the World Cup. Following that match, the Pride will play four consecutive NWSL Challenge Cup matches from July 23 to Aug. 9.

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Orlando Pride vs. Kansas City Current: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Pride host the Kansas City Current in the NWSL semifinals.

Published

7 hours ago

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November 17, 2024

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Image courtesy of Kansas City Current / Jeremy Reper

Welcome to your match preview as the Orlando Pride host the Kansas City Current with a chance to advance to the NWSL Championship. This is the first time the two teams have met in the postseason and the third time they’ve played this year.

Here’s everything you need to know about today’s game.

History

The Current joined the NWSL in 2021 after the team’s ownership group bought the Utah Royals and relocated the club to Kansas City. It’s the second NWSL team in the city — FC Kansas City played there from 2013 to 2017 before moving to Utah — and the team was known as NWSL Kansas City for its inaugural season.

The Pride and Current have played seven games against each other, all in the regular season. Orlando has a 3-2-3 record in the series and is 1-1-2 at home.

The two teams last met on Sept. 13 in Orlando. The teams combined for 27 shots, but neither converted as the game ended in a scoreless draw.  On July 6 in Kansas City, Barbra Banda gave the Pride the lead, but the hosts responded two minutes later through Temwa Chawinga. Despite a second yellow card for Carrie Lawrence dropping the Pride to 10 players just before halftime, Marta converted a second-half penalty, lifting her team to a 2-1 win.

The first time the teams met in 2023 was on April 23 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City. It was scoreless after an hour before the Current got a quick flurry of goals by Debinha and CeCe Kizer, lifting Kansas City to a 2-0 win. On June 23, 2023 in Orlando, the visitors took the lead through Debinha, and Kizer doubled the advantage just before halftime. Marta converted a penalty to pull one back, but the Pride fell 2-1.

Their first meeting in 2022 came on July 31 in Kansas City while the Pride were in the middle of their seven-game unbeaten run. The Pride opened the scoring when Erika Tymrak found the head of Celia and doubled the lead just after halftime through Julie Doyle. The Current stormed back with goals by Elyse Bennett and Kizer, pulling out a 2-2 draw.

The first meeting in 2022 was on May 14 at Exploria Stadium. The Pride took the lead early in the second half on a Gunny Jonsdottir goal. Bennett scored late in the second half, and the visitors appeared to win the game a minute into injury time through Kristen Hamilton. However, Kylie Strom was pulled down in the box five minutes later, resulting in a penalty. With Marta injured, the only player willing to step up to take the penalty was center back Toni Pressley, who drilled the ball into the roof of the net, pulling out a 2-2 draw.

The teams played twice during the 2021 NWSL season, with the first game occurring May 30 at Exploria Stadium. Courtney Petersen found Alex Morgan just outside the six-yard box and the striker headed in the game’s lone goal as the Pride won 1-0.

The Pride and Current met again on June 23 at Legends Field in Kansas City. The Pride had a weakened squad as then-coach Marc Skinner left some key players at home, preparing to lose them to the Olympics. It looked to be costly when Mariana Larroquette gave the hosts the lead late in first-half injury time. But the Pride responded well. Two minutes after Larroquette’s goal, Sydney Leroux’s shot took a deflection off a defender and went in to make it 1-1. Shortly after halftime, Leroux scored on a great individual effort from just outside the box. Marta then scored the goal of the game, beating Kansas City goalkeeper Abby Smith from the top of the center circle, lifting the Pride to a 3-1 win.

Overview

The Pride had a record-setting regular season and were on their way to an unbeaten record until they lost two of their last three games. Even with their 3-2 win over Seattle Reign FC in the regular-season finale, they conceded two goals for the first time at home this year. The performances caused questions about how the team would play in the postseason and whether the Pride could reach their ultimate goal of an NWSL Championship.

Those questions were seemingly put to rest in the team’s first-ever home playoff game when they dominated the Chicago Red Stars 4-1 in the quarterfinals. They gave up a goal on a mistake by Anna Moorhouse, enabling Jameese Joseph to block the clearance in for Chicago’s lone goal of the night. However, the Pride were already up 4-0 at that point, and the result was already determined.

The team only gave up one goal defensively, the fewest goals the Pride conceded in four games. The match also saw Banda score a brace, her first goals since Sept. 20 against Bay FC. If the Pride are getting back to their best, it can’t be at a better time as they’re about to face one of the league’s best teams.

Like the Pride, the Current were unbeaten in their first 15 games of the season, a run that ended with their 2-1 loss to the Pride on July 6. While they weren’t able to keep up with the Pride’s pace, the Current finished the regular season in fourth. They’ll be motivated to get revenge on the Pride for their loss earlier this year and the opportunity to play in the championship game at their home stadium.

The Current were one of the best teams offensively and defensively this season. Their 31 goals conceded was fifth fewest in the league and their 57 goals scored were the most, six more than the Washington Spirit, who were second in goals scored.

While the Pride are led offensively by Zambian international Banda, Malawian international Temwa Chawinga is the biggest threat for the Current. The favorite for the NWSL Most Valuable Player award finished the regular season with a league-leading 20 goals in 26 games and scored the lone goal in Kansas City’s 1-0 win over the North Carolina Courage in the first round of the NWSL playoffs last weekend.

The pair of African natives will be the key factor in this game. Banda snapped her goalless drought against Chicago and the Pride will need her to continue producing to reach the championship game. Additionally, Orlando’s defensive unit will need to keep Chawinga from taking over the game. It’s a tall task for a team that has conceded goals from defensive mistakes in each of its last four games.

“An exciting one,” Pride Head Coach Seb Hines said about today’s game. “You know, it’s the semifinals of the playoffs. Winner goes all the way to the championship game, so stakes are high, and obviously we want to be the team that is on that flight to Kansas at the end of the game. So we expect two teams going after it. Obviously, we’ve played them two times in the regular season, (they’ve) been really competitive games, and we expect nothing different going into this game.”

All of the players missing for the Pride tonight are those already out with season-ending injuries and illnesses. Those players include Rafaelle (thigh), Megan Montefusco (heel), Luana (illness), Simone Charley (ankle), and Grace Chanda (thigh).

The Current will be without Hildah Magaia (leg), Alex Pfeiffer (knee), Gabrielle Robinson (knee), Mallory Weber (knee), and Bia Zaneratto (foot). Additionally, Lo’eau LaBonta (leg) is listed as questionable.

Official Lineups

Orlando Pride (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Anna Moorhouse.

Defenders: Kerry Abello, Kylie Strom, Emily Sams, Cori Dyke.

Defensive Midfielders: Haley McCutcheon, Angelina.

Midfielders: Julie Doyle, Marta, Adriana.

Forward: Barbra Banda.

Bench: McKinley Crone, Celia, Summer Yates, Carrie Lawrence, Morgan Gautrat, Ally Lemos, Viviana Villacorta, Julie Doyle, Carson Pickett.

Kansas City Current (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Almuth Schult.

Defenders: Ellie Wheeler, Kayla Sharples, Alana Cook, Hailie Mace.

Midfielders: Claire Hutton, Vanessa DiBernardo, Lo’eau LaBonta.

Forwards: Temwa Chawinga, Debinha, Michelle Cooper.

Bench: AD Franch, Regan Steigleder, Elizabeth Ball, Nichelle Prince, Desiree Scott, Stine Ballisager, Izzy Rodriguez, Bayley Feist, Kristen Hamilton.

Referees

REF: Danielle Chesky.
AR1: Jennifer Garner.
AR2: Darren Bandy.
4TH: Abdou Ndiaye.
VAR: Shawn Tehini.
AVAR: Tom Felice.

How to Watch

Match Time: 3 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV: ABC.

Streaming: ESPN+.

Twitter: For live updates and rapid reaction, follow @TheManeLand and the Orlando Pride’s official Twitter feed (@ORLPride).

Enjoy the match. Go Pride!

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2024 Final Four the Best Such Group in NWSL History

The final four teams in 2024 make up the best such group in NWSL history. Here’s the data that explains why.

Published

3 days ago

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November 14, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It is interesting to me that the term “chalk” is still used to describe a bracket playing out with all of the teams favored to win actually winning, since chalk has basically been phased out of schools and now seems to just randomly show up for kids to play with on playgrounds or sidewalks and to ensure that their hands, faces, and clothes will require deep cleaning immediately afterwards, to the great exasperation of their parents. I have two young children, so I am familiar with this exasperation. Very, very, very familiar. I never know where the chalk came from, but I know that it will always end up in my bathtub later that day.

Going chalk may be an anachronistic phrase, but it does accurately describe the results from the first round of the 2024 NWSL playoffs, as the teams seeded one through four are all still alive after their opening games. During the early NWSL years, the final four was always made up of the top four seeds, as only four teams made the playoffs. However, starting in 2021, the league expanded to six teams in the playoffs, and then this year the NWSL expanded again to an eight-team field.

During the years when there were six teams in the playoffs, the top two teams received byes to the semifinals (a.k.a. the final four, written in lower case to avoid the NCAA’s trademark lawyers), and seed No. 3 played No. six and seed No. 4 played No. 5, with the winners advancing to the final four. In 2021, the final four ended up with seeds one, two, three, and four, but in 2022, it was one, two, three, and five. Then, last season, it was one, two, four, and six. This year returned to the way it used to be, with the top four teams all advancing, which is great for soccer fans but not as great for the Pride, since the top four teams during the 2024 NWSL season were all great.

How great were they? Well, allow me to show you every team and every season in NWSL history on the chart below, stack ranked by their average points earned per game for the full season, with the top four teams in 2024 all inside the red circle (I did not include the 2020 season since it was not a standard league season):

It is a little difficult to see, but there are four dots represented inside the red circle, and those four average points earned per game are 2.31, 2.15, 2.15, and 2.12. As a quick reminder, the best possible average would be 3.00. The four seasons inside that circle are not just the top four seasons of 2024 but they are also four of the five best seasons in NWSL history — only surpassed by the 2018 North Carolina Courage’s average of 2.38. One might say that North Carolina raised up that year, if one were familiar with the work of Petey Pablo.

I did not just take my shirt off, twist it around my hand, and spin it like a helicopter, but I thought about it for far longer than was necessary.

So, four of the five best regular-season records in NWSL history all happened this year, but it is not just in points earned per game that these four teams ranked among the best in NWSL history. The next chart shows a scatterplot of points earned per game and goal differential per game, with the the same four 2024 teams included in the red circle. The color coding is a little difficult to see, but the Pride are the purple circle farthest to the right, the Current are the red circle farthest to the left and the Spirit in the black circle are slightly above Gotham in the light blue in the middle.

The teams in the upper right area of a scatterplot like this are winning most of their games and winning them handily. As I know all of you remember from algebra class, a scatterplot shows the coordinates on a Cartesian coordinate system (nerd alert), sometimes referred to as the xy plane, and the 2024 Pride’s point is shown at (2.31,1.00). The 2.31 points earned per game ranks second all-time in NWSL history and the 1.00 goal differential ranks fourth. The problem for the Pride is that not only are the three other teams remaining in the playoffs teams that won a lot of games, they also won a lot of games by a healthy margin as well (goal differentials of 1.00 for the Current (tied for fourth all-time), 0.88 for the Spirit (fifth all-time) and 0.81 for Gotham (sixth all-time)).

While the 2024 regular season may not have been competitive from top to bottom, the top four teams were bunched together at the top, and those teams all had seasons that rank among the best in league history. For some context, all four teams averaged at least 2.12 points earned per game, which has now been done five times across 86 total team-seasons in NWSL history, meaning that prior to this season it had been done once in 72 team seasons. Over on the Major League Soccer side, only four teams have ever earned at least 2.12 points per game in a season, and that is across 503 team-seasons. Teams are rarely this successful in soccer, let alone four teams being this successful in the same season, as happened in the NWSL this season.

To win the title, the Pride do not have to defeat all three teams. They only need to defeat two of them, starting with the Kansas City Current. They defeated the Current in Kansas City and drew with them in Orlando. And in an odd series of events, Orlando will need to defeat Kansas City in Orlando to get to go back to Kansas City to defeat another team besides Kansas City if Orlando wants to win the NWSL Championship.

No matter who wins the final, they will have had to survive the best final four in league history, and when the final whistle blows on Nov. 23, I hope it will be the Pride who emerge victorious and have their name engraved on the NWSL Championship Trophy.

It will look so much better in gold and silver than it would have in chalk.

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Orlando Pride vs. Kansas City Current: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Pride need to do to secure a playoff win over Kansas City on Sunday?

Published

3 days ago

on

November 14, 2024

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

The Orlando Pride continue their quest for a second trophy in 2024 against the Kansas City Current Sunday at 3 p.m. in the friendly confines of Inter&Co Stadium. The Pride are coming off a dominating 4-1 victory over the Chicago Red Stars, but their next opponent will be much tougher to beat.

What do the Pride need to do to defeat Kansas City and move on to the NWSL Championship?

Step on the Golden Boot

The Current scored a league-high 57 goals during the regular season. What you might not realize is that 37 of those goals came in the first half of the season. The Current only scored 20 in the second half of the season. That’s not to say they aren’t still a formidable offensive team.

Temwa Chawinga won the Golden Boot by scoring 21 of those for her club, including one against the Pride back in July in Kansas City. Obviously, she is one of the most dangerous attackers in the league. That being said, the Pride’s defense kept her to one goal at Kansas City, and shut her — and her teammates — out in the 0-0 draw at home in September.

The Pride tied with NJ/NY Gotham FC for the best defense in the league, allowing only 20 goals all season. Orlando will need to bring its best defense if the Pride are to once again shut down Chawinga. The back line needs to stay alert and limit mistakes. That goes for goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse as well.

Board the Banda Train

It had been a long time since Barbra Banda scored a goal with her feet. She finally broke out for a brace against the Chicago Red Stars on Friday, and honestly, she could have doubled that. I’ve been saying for a long time that she just needed that first goal (with her foot) to open the scoring floodgates. Orlando needs Banda to keep that up against the Current.

Kansas City has scored a ton of goals this year, but the Current also allowed 31 goals — the most allowed by the remaining teams in the playoffs, although the club has made huge strides in that area over the last couple of months. If the Pride attack can generate even half of the opportunities garnered in the match against Chicago, it could be a good day for the home side. I expect Seb Hines to to keep the 4-4-2 formation he’s employed recently, with Ally Watt getting the start next to Banda. Watt’s mere presence will free up space for Banda to work her magic.

Pack the Fortress

The Pride were 10-0-3 in the regular season at Inter&Co Stadium. It really doesn’t get much better than that. Attendance at Pride matches has averaged 8,340 this season with a Pride stadium record attendance of 17,087 against the Houston Dash. There is no reason that number can’t be beaten this Sunday in an NWSL semifinal match.

We recently interviewed Watt on SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast. She told us how important the fans have been this season. She also mentioned that the bigger, louder crowds make it more difficult to talk to her teammates, but she said she’s happy to have that be the case. It stands to reason that over 17,000 fans would make it difficult for the Current to talk to each other as well. I will be there lending my voice, and I hope you will do the same.

That is what I will be looking for Sunday, though this time from the stands. I hope to see plenty of you there. Please feel free to say hello. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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