Sermanni sees no excuses for Pride draw
Orlando Pride coach Tom Sermanni was unwilling to accept any excuses following his team’s frustrating 2-2 draw with the Washington Spirit Saturday.
Orlando (4-5-4, 16 points) held a 2-1 lead, but Pride defender Toni Pressley was hit with a questionable foul call in the box in the 88th minute. U.S. women’s national team rising star Mallory Pugh hit the ensuing penalty kick for Washington (3-6-3, 12) in the 90th and the Pride couldn’t pull off a game winner in five minutes of stoppage time.
“I’m bitterly disappointed that we got ourselves in front twice and then gave it away but that seems to be symptomatic of how our season has gone so far,” he said. “Until we stop making those fundamental errors, in this league, we won’t win games that we should win.”
The Pride had numerous positive moments.
Marta scored two goals and became the team’s alltime leading goal scorer (8). Camila pushed to set up her teammates. Alex Morgan started and played 63 minutes, developing stronger communication with Marta. Steph Catley and Alanna Kennedy were especially active passing to spark the Pride attack. Pressley had key defensive plays in the first half.
And goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe delivered five key saves.
But the mistakes overshadowed the progress.
Turnovers in critical parts of the field, poor clearances and the inability to finish scoring opportunities all contributed to the loss.
Morgan said during a postgame interview broadcast nationally on Lifetime the field dried out after the first 10 minutes and it was harder to deal with the way the ball bounced. Both Morgan and defender Kristen Edmonds had issues with ball control, but Sermanni was unwilling to say the field conditions were an issue.
“There’s no excuse for the field,” he said. “Any passes that were off target were poor decisions or poor execution. Our play let a win slip away.”
He acknowledged Bledsoe came up big for the Pride, delivering multiple saves in stoppage time when Washington’s attack was drilling Orlando’s defense and seemed poised to net a game-winner.
“Yeah, [she was] fantastic. That typifies us giving the opposition a goal when we were controlling the ball and then her stepping in to help,” he said. “. . . But we shouldn’t have to put her in that position.”
While the Pride were frustrated they couldn’t secure three valuable points against Washington and remain in sixth place in the NWSL table, Bledsoe said in a postgame interview on Lifetime the team would regroup ahead of its next home game Saturday against FC Kansas City.
“We’ll be fine, we’ll bounce back,” Bledsoe said. “It’s pretty frustrating not getting those three points, especially since it was a late penalty kick. We’ve given up a lot of penalty kicks. But we’ll pull together.”
Orlando City B (5-6-6, 21 points) earned a 0-0 draw against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (5-7-5, 20 points) Saturday night at Orlando City Stadium.
It was the second match of a three-game homestand and the Lions’ fifth clean sheet of the season.
The starting lineup featured seven MLS players, including goalkeeper Earl Edward Jr.; defenders Rafael Ramos, Seb Hines and Léo Pereira; and forwards Hadji Barry and Richie Laryea. MLS defender Conor Donovan also on the 18-man roster.
“I thought we played some really good football. We moved the ball well through the lines, created numerous chances, our defensive organization was really good when you consider we had one day with that group of players to work with them,” Pulis said. “Two points dropped rather than a point gained. Having said that, the chance they had at the end, they probably could’ve nicked it.”