Orlando Pride vs. North Carolina Courage: Final Score 1-0 as Pride Drop Another Tough One At Home

The Orlando Pride (8-8-5, 29 points) suffered another tough loss tonight, this time falling 1-0 to the North Carolina Courage (7-7-7, 28 points) at Inter&Co Stadium. Shinomi Koyama’s 89th-minute goal was the difference as the Pride continue their slide down the standings.

The Pride pushed this game, and the community showed up to support their side. The announced crowd of 20,575 is the second-highest attendance in team history and the most to view a Pride game at Inter&Co Stadium since the stadium’s opening in 2017.

Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made two changes from the team that drew 1-1 with Bay FC on Sept. 13. Anna Moorhouse returned to the starting lineup in place of McKinley Crone, and Rafaelle was out injured, replaced by Emily Sams.

The back line in front of Moorhouse in goal was Kerry Abello, Zara Chavoshi, Sams, and Oihane. Haley McCutcheon and Angelina were in the defensive midfield behind Jacquie Ovalle, Marta, and Ally Lemos, with Ally Watt up top.

The Pride nearly created the first chance of the game in the fifth minute when Oihane sent a low pass to the near post where Watt was making a run. The striker tried to backheel the ball, but she couldn’t get anything on it.

The visitors had an opportunity in the 10th minute when Riley Jackson played a beautiful ball over the top for Payton Linnehan on the right side of the box. The midfielder volleyed the ball into the six with teammates making runs, but Moorhouse came out to collect it.

Linnehan intercepted the ensuing outlet pass before playing a give-and-go with Cortnee Vine. Receiving it back, Linnehan found Manaka Matsukubo — North Carolina’s leading goal scorer — making a run into the Pride box. The Japanese international was in on goal, but her shot was right at Moorhouse.

Marta’s pass for Lemos was blocked in the 18th minute, but Lemos was still able to gain possession. The young midfielder used a nice cut to split Jackson and Tyler Lussi. However, her shot rolled harmlessly wide of the far post.

In the 26th minute, Sams played Oihane on the right who immediately played Ovalle forward. The newest Pride signing sent the ball into the six-yard box before it crossed the end line. The ball sat in the box before being cleared without any Pride players being able to take a shot. The clearance went to Angelina just outside the Courage’s defensive third of the field, and the midfielder played it wide left for Abello. However, the defender’s cross was too close to Marisa Jordan, who caught the ball to end the threat.

The Pride experienced a scary moment in the 30th minute when Matsukubo cut inside and went to the ground. Chavoshi stuck her leg in to tap the ball away but missed, getting a slight piece of the Courage attacker. Referee Matthew Thompson determined it wasn’t a foul but was called to the monitor by the video assistant referee. After a brief check of the play, Thompson stuck with his initial call. But Chavoshi can count herself lucky as the call could’ve easily gone either way.

The Pride nearly scored in the 44th minute when Jordan blocked Oihane’s cross. But the Courage goalkeeper couldn’t control the ball, and it landed at the feet of McCutcheon. It initially looked like the midfielder would lay it off for Watt, but she took it herself instead. It was on target, but Maycee Bell was there to clear the slow roller off the line, keeping the game scoreless.

At halftime, North Carolina had the edge in possession (61%-39%), corner kicks (1-0), and better accuracy (81%-69%). The Pride had more shots (4-1) and  crosses (9-2). The official stats had the Courage with more shots on target (1-0) but for some reason didn’t count McCutcheon’s 44th-minute shot that was cleared off the line, so that statistic was really 1-1 in the first 45 minutes.

The video assistant referee took another close look at a potential Courage penalty in the 50th minute when Lussi’s cross was deflected by Oihane. The Spanish defender’s arm was up, but a close-up view showed the ball went off her chest rather than her arm, so it wasn’t a penalty.

Lemos sent Watt down the right, behind the back line, and into the Courage box in the 56th minute. It looked like it would be a breakaway for the striker, but Bell caught up with the speedster from behind. Watt tried to take on the defender and tripped while doing so, resulting in the ball rolling harmlessly out of play.

A turnover by Abello in the 62nd minute created a chance for the visitors. Koyama lifted the ball into the box and Matsukubo headed it back for Hannah Betfort. The second-half substitute mishit the ball, but it went straight to Lussi. Fortunately, Chavoshi got there first to clear it away.

Marta lifted the ball into the box in the 64th minute for Watt. The striker did well to bring it down and turn to create a shot. However, Williams stayed in front of the attacker, deflecting the shot and allowing the Courage to clear the danger. Three minutes later, Marta made a long run into the North Carolina box. Kaleigh Kurtz blocked her shot, but Marta regained possession. Kurtz stayed on the Pride captain, knocking it off her foot. However, this time it went to Ovalle, whose shot was just wide of the far post.

Immediately after the miss, Hines made his first change of the game, replacing Lemos with Carson Pickett.

The Courage had a great chance on the other end when Williams’ cross was headed off the near post by Lussi. The rebound went to Koyama at the near post, but her attempt was saved by Moorhouse.

Hines made his second change in the 71st minute, replacing Watt — who received treatment multiple times in the game — with Julie Doyle. With little happening for either team and Hines looking for a late winner, he made his final change in the 83rd minute, replacing McCutcheon with Summer Yates.

Unfortunately, it was a bad pass by Yates that started the Courage’s go-ahead break in the 89th minute. Williams collected the ball at the top of the 18 and played it to Koyama before receiving it back. The right back then sent Aline Gomes behind the back line and into the Pride box. Abello caught up but stumbled, allowing Gomes to shoot. However, Moorhouse blocked the ball away. Koyama was following and put the rebound in to give the Courage the late 1-0 lead.

The fourth official showed 10 minutes of stoppage time and the Pride had a chance for an equalizer in the second when Oihane’s cross found Pickett. The defender put her first touch on target, but it was right to Jordan.

Marta won a corner kick in the ninth minute of stoppage time that gave the Pride a great chance to equalize. The set piece was short to Marta, who sent a low cross into the box. Pickett tried to redirect the ball on goal, but Betfort was there to block it. The ball went to Yates, who shot, but Natalie Jacobs blocked it out of play for another corner kick. The next set piece by Angelina was headed forward by Chavoshi and cleared, ending the threat.

That was the final chance for either team as the Pride suffered another tough loss. The Courage ended the game with the advantage in possession (53.2%-46.8%), shots on target (4-2), and passing accuracy (79.6%-75.1%). The Pride had more shots (10-7), crosses (26-6), and corner kicks (3-2).

“Disappointed with the result, but not the performance,” Hines said after the game. “I thought, between the two halves, I thought we put some really good pressure on, forcing a lot of turnovers, a lot of errors. And it’s, I mean, I sound like a broken record, but it’s fine margins again. We were so close to scoring. You know, they’re clearing one off the line, two goals off the line. And it’s just not meant to be right now. And I just told the players at the end of the game, you just got to keep believing and keep pushing, and it will turn around. You know, there’s a lot of great moments within the game, but we’ve just got to continue to do what we’re doing, and it will turn around at some point. And luckily for us, there’s still enough time in the season to turn it around. And yeah, the challenges have been, obviously, three-game week and quick turnaround. But I’m not one to make excuses. I thought we were great. I thought there was a lot of intent today.”

“Tough game. We tried everything we could. It was unfortunate on the last two minutes of the game, we just got scored on,” Angelina added. “They got lucky, but we kept trying. I mean, that’s the spirit of this team. We keep trying, we keep fighting, and we’re going to try and find a win.”

Since arriving in Orlando, Hines has emphasized the big five moments, which include the first and last five minutes of each half. The Pride have conceded in those moments in the last five league games and seven of the last eight NWSL matches.

“I think we’ve probably conceded in different ways. Obviously, today we were trying to get the winning goal, which then also left us vulnerable at the back,” he said. “So in that sense, yeah, it did leave us vulnerable. But there’s also moments where, you know, at the end of the first half, where we’ve got numbers behind the ball and it just lands to the opposing player and they’ve ended up scoring. So, yeah, I don’t really have the answer for it. We’ve spoken about multiple times of those big five moments and switching on and mentality, but also you need something to work in your favor as well. Like, put the ball in the back of the net. It lands to us or something. But, yeah, it’s something that we’ve spoken about. We obviously want to change it as well, where we’re not conceding and we’re looking to be on the other end and scoring and managing those moments.”

While the Pride have struggled to score, they are getting closer. They sent shots off the crossbar and post against Bay FC Saturday and had two more cleared off the line tonight.

“You’ve gotta highlight the good moments,” Hines said. “You’ve gotta highlight the desire to be in those positions and, you know, the delivery of the cross and making defenders defend. You know, it’s incredibly difficult when balls are getting put into the box and things are landing to the opponent, and so we have to continue to be persistent. We have to continue to highlight those good moments. And you can’t lose hope as well. And that’s really important at this stage of the season, that we don’t lose hope.”

“We keep believing. We take it game by game,” Angelina said. “Obviously, we’re focused on today. We didn’t focus on last game, or the game days coming. So we take it step by step. We keep believing, because we have a really good team, really good roster. We’ve been unlucky, obviously, these past few games. But like I said, we take it game by game and next game we’re going to be totally focused on that one to get the win.”

The Pride are now in a precarious position as the season winds down towards its end. They currently sit in seventh with 29 points, just one point ahead of the Courage and two points ahead of Racing Louisville FC. Falling behind both would see the team that dominated all last year drop out of the playoff positions.

The Pride have a week to figure out how to get their first win since June 13 when they travel west to take on San Diego Wave FC on Sept. 26.