Pride are headed to playoffs
The Orlando Pride clinched the first National Women’s Soccer League bid in franchise history Sunday night.
FC Kansas City’s 1-0 win over Seattle eliminated the fifth-place Reign’s chance of catching the Pride in the playoff race.
Orlando will join the firstplace North Carolina Courage, second-place Portland Thorns and third-place Chicago Red Stars.
The final table has not been set, with the Courage set to play two games and the other playoff sides slated to play one more match.
If the current standings hold, the Pride would open the playoffs on the road against the Courage. It would be a rematch of the teams’ regular-season finale Saturday in North Carolina.
The NWSL championship will be held Oct. 14 at Orlando City Stadium. All playoff matches will be broadcast on Lifetime.
Orlando Pride coach Tom Sermanni and his players pulled off a major transformation after finishing in ninth
place out of 10 NWSL teams last season, their inaugural year in NWSL.
The Pride completely revamped their roster, adding superior talent, and there were fewer international call-ups, allowing those athletes to bond.
“The cohesion and the confidence and belief the players have in each other,” Sermanni said when asked about the differences between last year’s team and this year’s lineup.
“That’s grown as the season has gone on. Obviously it has helped in the fact that we have gone on an eight-game unbeaten run. If anything, I would say it’s that cohesion and the confidence they have in one another.”
The Pride watched the Seattle-Kansas City match and shared their jubilation on social media.
Defender Ali Krieger, the only Pride player to stay on the field for every minute this season, posted on Twitter, “I’m so happy right now!!! #NWSLplayoffs”
Goalkeeper and team captain Ashlyn Harris posted, “Really proud of this team and organization. I love representing this city. Ugh, how cool is this @ORLPride.”
Star forward Alex Mor- gan posted, “Officially in the playoffs!” She added four purple hearts to the tweet.
Orlando City Soccer Club CEO Alex Leitão, who joined with owner Flávio Augusto da Silva setting playoff expectations for the Pride, posted on Twitter, “Good job @TomSermanni and all the Warriors, Legends, Fighters and Bosses! @ORLPride checked the first box, playoffs!”
OCB wins
Orlando City B earned a 2-1 win over the Charleston Battery during the second half of a doubleheader with the Orlando Pride Saturday at Orlando City Stadium.
Pierre Da Silva scored his third goal of the season and Lewis Neal scored his second to help secure the win for OCB (9-8-12, 39 points) over the Battery (13-8-8, 47 points).
“Very hard-fought victory. For the first half we played some really good football. We moved the ball quickly, got into some good areas, just got let down a little bit by the final ball. I don’t think we penetrated their back line enough,” OCB coach Anthony Pulis said.
“Jake Fenlason made some pretty good saves to keep us in it.”