Pride are pushing to avoid costly collapse
During most of the 2018 season, Orlando Pride coach Tom Sermanni has watched his team play well in bursts.
Sometimes, those bursts have been enough to win matches. The Pride’s past two matches, however, have been examples of opposing clubs pouncing when those bursts aren’t sustained.
Problems have snowballed into losses for Orlando this season, and during today’s 7:30 p.m. match against the Chicago Red Stars (7-4-10, 31 points), the Pride (8-8-6, 30 points) can’t afford another collapse.
“We just have to be better in those final moments of games,” midfielder Dani Weatherholt said about the club’s recent collapses.
“It’s something we’re working on. Something to be better at. We’re trying to improve every game.”
Sermanni lamented the Pride’s second-half collapse against the North Carolina Courage – a match Orlando lost 3-0 after giving up three late goals during 13-minute span – and said there’s a weakness in the team he’s had trouble pinpointing. The Pride are winless during their past four games despite boasting a roster filled with players who have thrived during international competition while representing their respective national teams.
“It takes away a lot of the good effort that we put in for the last part of the game,” Sermanni said after the loss.
“We’ve got an international back line. It’s not just the back line. We’ve got an international team and we conceded three goals. There’s something that we’re doing that, for this league, is not working. That’s whether I need to look at different personnel, to say, ‘OK, we need to do stuff a little bit differently,’ or whether players sort of need to step up and do more things better than what we’re doing now.”
Sermanni said this week anything other than a win over Chicago would be insufficient.
The Pride defeated the Chicago Red Stars 5-2 on May 26, serving as one example of sustained, solid play from the team. Since then, the Pride have posted a 4-5-3 record. The Pride also beat Chicago 2-0 earlier this season.
“I think we can find confidence in the way we’ve played against Chicago,” Weatherholt said. Plus, the match is at home. “We’ve got fantastic supporters,” Sermanni said. “Really passionate. They’re always right behind the team.”
Goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris said Orlando is looking to find its “swag” again.
“We’ve got to have belief and we’ve got to have trust,” Harris said. “The best teams in the world are arrogant. Everything just seems to be going with this confident, arrogant attitude with the best teams in the world. Until we find that swag, it’s going to be hard for us.
“We have it and we’re totally capable.”