The Pride aim
to build on last week’s victory tonight with a win over the Seattle Reign — the NWSL’s second best team.
Getting a win against the best team in NWSL isn’t easy. Trying to beat the second-best team on the road a week later is even harder.
However, the Orlando Pride, coming off their first win of the year, are confident that they can get it done.
“I think we’re ready for the challenge,” forward Jamia Fields said. “We knew this was coming up and we got it done against North Carolina, so I think we’re ready to just do it again.”
The Pride know that they will need a strong defensive performance to pick up points when they play the Seattle Reign at Memorial Stadium today at 9:30 p.m. Seattle (2-1-2, eight points) has been the most dangerous offense in the National Women's Soccer League this season, scoring six more goals than any other team and leading the league in assists and shots on goal.
“Seattle’s gonna be a great team,” defender Toni Pressley said. “I think we just take the good pieces from the Carolina game and work on some of the things we didn’t do so well and we just go into Seattle and look for a battle and look for a win.”
While the Pride (1-2-2, five points) have been focusing on staying committed to defense, they have also been preparing to face a team that is very stylistically different than the one they played last weekend.
“It’s a different kind of game this week,” coach Tom Sermanni said. “North Carolina, they’re a big, physical, strong, quick team with some very good players. Seattle are very much a good soccer playing team who play, you know, with a great deal of skill, touch and ability, but not quite as physical. So it’ll give us a different challenge in how we approach it.”
The Pride are also preparing to deal with an offense that includes a variety of scoring threats. In Seattle’s last game, five different players scored a goal as the Reign defeated the Washington Spirit 6-2.
“They have a very talented team.” Pride midfielder Dani Weatherholt said. “Jess Fishlock in the middle is very talented and then Megan Rapinoe of course. They have a lot of weapons, but I think we’ll match up nicely with them.”
Orlando will also have several new faces available to play this weekend. The Pride signed rookie forward Rachel Hill as well as goalkeeper Caroline Stanley to replace Aubrey Bledsoe, who is out with a concussion.
While Seattle has relied on a very powerful offense all season, its defense has not been as effective. The Reign are allowing 1.8 goals per game and goalkeeper Haley Kopmeyer has allowed multiple goals three times this year. Coming off scoring three goals in their most recent game, the Pride are confident the team can get its second consecutive win.
“We just need to go in there and get our tactics right, get our preparation right,” Sermanni said. “If we can do all that well enough, then I think we’ve got a good enough team to get a result.”
One week ago, the Pride were the only team in NWSL without a win. But after blowing out North Carolina, Orlando entered Saturday three points away from the No. 3 spot in the table. The team is hoping to carry its momentum through its next few games and climb back up the standings.
“I think not only to beat [North Carolina,] but to beat them 3-1 was very motivating for us,” Weatherholt said. “We feel like everything’s starting to click and we have momentum and so we’re gonna take that momentum forward and knock off the second-best team.”