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Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit: Final Score 1-0 as Pride Fall to Spirit On Late Goal

The Pride dominated the Spirit but conceded a second-half, stoppage-time goal to lose to the Washington Spirit.

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1 year ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

The Orlando Pride (0-4-1, 1 point) devastatingly fell to the Washington Spirit (3-3-0, 10 points) 1-0 tonight at Exploria Stadium. The Pride dominated the game and came close to scoring on multiple occasions, especially in the second half, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Mariana Speckmaier’s wonder goal deep into second-half stoppage time was the difference as the Pride remain on one point in the NWSL Challenge Cup.

Pride Head Coach Seb Hines went with mostly a reserve lineup for this game, giving players without much playing time during league games a chance in a competitive environment. Regular starting goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse started behind a back line of Kylie Strom, Emily Madril, Caitlin Cosme, and Brianna Martinez. Kerry Abello, Jordyn Listro, and Mikayla Cluff were in the midfield behind a front line of Julie Doyle, Ally Watt, and Summer Yates.

The result of this game doesn’t reflect the performance of the teams as the Pride dominated the entire contest. They held more possession and generated significantly more chances than the Spirit. The difference in the game was a late let-off and the Spirit took advantage of one of their few opportunities. But the Pride would’ve won this game running away had they similarly taken advantage of their chances throughout the game.

The Pride started this game on the attack and created the first chance in the second minute. Lena Silano fouled Martinez outside of the Spirit box and Abello sent the ball into the mixer. The ball was headed out, but Yates controlled it with her chest and took the game’s first shot. Unfortunately, she didn’t get much on it, sending it well wide of the target.

The first decent chance for the Spirit came in the 14th minute when a corner kick was missed by Moorhouse. Jordan Thompson ended up with the ball and shot, but it was blocked off the line by Cosme. The Pride quickly went the other way with Doyle finding Watt at the top of the box. The striker fired on goal, but it was right at Spirit goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart.

A minute later, the Pride had another opportunity from a throw in. After she initially had trouble finding a teammate, Strom found Doyle in some space. The attacker’s first touch was to Yates at the top of the box. The rookie turned nicely to create a shot and forced Barnhart to dive and block it away.

In the 20th minute, Strom blocked a cross attempt out of play, giving the Spirit a corner kick. It ended up with Amber Brooks well outside of the box, and the defensive midfielder took a shot at goal that was blocked out of play. The ensuing set piece found the head of Thompson at the back post, but her attempt was wide.

As the game neared the half-hour mark, the Pride created some more opportunities. In the 26th minute, Yates was sent into the box by Martinez. The attacker held the ball up and, with a defender on her back, laid it off for Cluff outside of the box. Cluff quickly took a long-distance shot at goal, but sent it well off target. Martinez tried to find Watt in the box four minutes later, but placed the ball too close to Barnhart.

The Pride had a chance to open the scoring again in the 45th minute when Doyle found Abello on the left. The midfielder sent a cross in for Watt at the near post, but the striker couldn’t get on the end of it. Instead, it got behind her to Sam Staab who headed it out of play.

The Pride soon had another opportunity when Abello’s shot from outside of the box was blocked wide. The ensuing corner kick by Abello somehow got past Barnhart and over multiple defenders to find Martinez at the back post. Martinez got her head to the ball, but sent it wide.

A minute later, the Pride won the ball near midfield and started a counter attack. Martinez played Watt down the right, who apparently just stayed onside. The striker sent a low cross into the box for Doyle, but she mishit the ball, allowing the Spirit to clear.

The final chance of the half came with the final touch. Strom attempted to clear a cross into the box, but didn’t control it well and the ball fell to the dangerous Ashley Hatch. Fortunately, the striker couldn’t get over the ball, sending it over the goal.

Despite several lineup changes, the Pride were unquestionably the better team in the first half. They had more possession (53.2%-46.8%), shots (12-4), shots on target (2-0), corners (5-4), and crosses (12-9), as well as better passing accuracy (78.9%-68.5%). But they weren’t clinical enough in front of goal and the game reached halftime scoreless.

Hines made one halftime change up top, replacing Watt with Messiah Bright. It didn’t take the substitute long to get involved as she powered through her defender to find Cluff at the top of the box. The midfielder took the first shot of the second half, but sent it over the goal.

In the 47th minute, a clearance attempt by the Spirit went off the head of Abello and deflected to Doyle. The forward did well to control the ball, get past Dorian Bailey, and send a shot towards the near post. However, Barnhart got down to make the save.

Two minutes later, Doyle found Bright well outside of the box. She was given space by the Spirit defense due to her distance from goal, but took a shot anyway. It looked to be heading in, but Barnhart made a diving stop, just getting her fingertips to the ball.

The Spirit finally got their first chance of the second half in the 55th minute when a corner was headed away by Madril, but only to Brooks. Her first touch was forward for Hatch, who quickly played it back for Brooks to take a long-distance shot. However, Cosme got in front of the attempt and the Pride were able to clear.

The Pride were forced into their second change of the game in the 56th minute when Paige Metayer and Strom went for a ball in the Spirit box. Metayer jumped backwards for the header while Strom went forwards, resulting in Metayer slamming into Strom’s face. The left back was down for several minutes while the Pride medical team attended to her and was eventually replaced by Haley McCutcheon.

The Pride came inches from opening the scoring in the 60th minute when Metayer conceded a corner kick. Yates’ set piece found the head of Bright in the box. Barnhart dove to tip the ball wide, but it went off the post and across the face of goal. Listro rushed forward to tap it in, but Bailey got there first, clearing it off the line.

In the 67th minute, Doyle took Brooks one-on-one, creating enough space for a shot. She attempted to get over the ball, but sent it just over the crossbar as she fell. That was the last action for Doyle, as she and Cluff were replaced by Viviana Villacorta and Erika Tymrak.

The Pride nearly had a breakaway in the 71st minute when Yates sent Bright through near midfield. It appeared that Bright was offside and the assistant’s flag immediately went up. Bright continued her run and was challenged by the defender, failing to get a shot off.

Hines made one final change in the 78th minute during the second-half hydration break. Maliah Morris came on to make her third professional appearance, replacing Yates in her second professional start.

As time wound down, the Pride pressed to find a winning goal. In the 87th minute, Morris missed the target with her first attempt. Seconds later, Cosme took an off-balance shot that was blocked, allowing Washington to clear.

Seven minutes into stoppage time, Tymrak tried to play Bright through, but some miscommunication resulted in the pass going the opposite way of the run. The pass went all the way back to Barnhart, who sent it down field where Speckmaier and Cosme collided. The Spirit’s second-half substitute won the ball off the center back as she laid on the ground and fired from a very long distance, beating Moorhouse to give the Spirit a shocking 1-0 lead.

“I think that moment was really unfortunate tonight,” Abello said about the goal. “You know, I mean, arguably a foul. The girl hits a banger, you know, and that’s soccer sometimes.”

“I think there was a moment where we lacked a bit of concentration,” Hines added. “And they capitalized on that. Ninety-plus minutes and we’ve conceded again. So, you know, we have to learn from that. We have to not concede in pivotal moments of the game.”

This was the sixth time that the Pride have conceded a second-half, stoppage-time goal this season and the fourth time it changed the result. However, they hadn’t conceded one of those goals since May 10 in a 4-2 loss to the Spirit at Audi Field.

The Pride almost got an equalizer in the 10th minute of stoppage time when a 50-50 challenge ended with Martinez getting the ball far from goal. The defender took an ambitious shot that sailed over the outstretched arm of Barnhart, but slammed off the crossbar. That was the last chance as the Spirit stole three points on the road.

The Pride led every statistical category except the final score. They had more possession (56.4%-43.6%), shots (25-7), shots on target (7-2), corners (11-5), and crosses (26-14), and better passing accuracy (75.3%-66.5%).

“I think we did have a reaction after last week. Obviously last week wasn’t good enough. And today, I felt there was only one team who wanted to win,” Hines said. “You know, we started the game very aggressive, pressing, getting a lot of regains high up the field. We decided to make some changes, obviously, with a game against Gotham coming up and a lot of players took their opportunity today. And overall, I’m really proud of them. I’m really proud of what they did. And obviously it’s a cruel game. You don’t always get what you deserve. And you know, that’s life at times and that’s football. So we move on. But yeah, I’m happy with the performance and not the result.”

“I think after the result last week against North Carolina, I think we really came out, we fought hard, and we definitely were the better team out there tonight,” Madril added. “Just, unfortunately, we didn’t get the result and just score on our opportunities. But I think we definitely got back to how we’re used to playing.”

The biggest problem for the Pride in this game was the lack of finishing. They had far more opportunities than the Spirit and should’ve had a mult-goal lead heading into second-half stoppage time. But they were unable to convert and put themselves in a position to give up a goal at the end.

“I felt that there was goals on the table today,” Hines said after the game. “You know, we’ve walked away with no goals. So that’s an area that we need to improve on. We need to score goals when we’re so dominant in the game.”

Despite the loss, the Pride players and coaching staff seem happy with the performance overall. They were shelled by the North Carolina Courage in a 5-0 loss last weekend and Hines said he wanted to see a response from the team tonight. Even though they were unable to get a result, they were undoubtedly the better team.

“I said to the players that in the game, I’m proud of their performance,” Hines said about his postgame speech to the players. “You know, it’s never nice losing the way that we did against North Carolina and we looked for a reaction after that game and I’m hoping that the fans and the supporters saw a reaction and saw that there was only one team that wanted to win today. We were completely dominant in the match and that was my feedback to the players. You know, football’s a cruel game. You don’t always get what you deserve.”

“I think the overall message was just that we’re still really proud of our performance,” Abello added. “And we don’t put our heads down. I think it’s easy when you have a game like that to put your head down and to go negative, but our overall message to each other is just that we keep building on the positives from this game.”

The Pride will play their final Challenge Cup game of the year Wednesday night when they take on NJ/NY Gotham FC in New Jersey. Then they’ll have 11 days before they return to regular-season play.

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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

By

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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