Focus is on development, scoring vs. Dash
Strong connections between veterans, young talent sought
The Orlando Pride want to build strong connections between veterans and young talent while earning more scoring chances when they face the Houston Dash on Saturday.
The Pride celebrated their first match of the NWSL Fall Series last week. Six rookies earned their first NWSL minutes on the road against North Carolina, with defender Carrie Lawrence picking up early praise for almost scoring on one end and making a goal-line save at the other.
Forward Kate Howarth also returned to the league for the first time in six years.
Meanwhile, veterans Sydney Leroux (pregnancy) and Toni Pressley (breast cancer) enjoyed competing after missing most of the 2019 season.
During the team’s second match against the NWSL Challenge Cup champions, coach Marc Skinner says his lineup will still feature young talent. But the coach wants those minutes on the pitch to be purposeful for the team’s recent additions as he builds toward the 2021 season.
“We want to see the younger players and to challenge them in different experiences and different environments,” Skinner said. “But you also need to get momentum and understanding between your team. For us, it’s about understanding which relationships can be forged, which relationships can be formed during this period.”
Similar to North Carolina and Orlando, several key Dash highprofile players will be unavailable for the game. The greatest loss is captain Rachel Daly, who went on loan to West Ham United in the FA WSL for the year.
But the core of the Challenge Cup- winning squad remains in Houston for the fall series, including Americans Shea Groom and Kristie Mewis and Canadians Nichelle Prince and Sophie Schmidt.
Saturday’s match will also feature the absence of a currently unidentified player.
The Dash announced this week one player tested positive for coronavirus. After an isolation period, all other players and staff members returned consecutive negative test results, allowing
them to continue with this weekend’s game.
The club has not announced which player tested positive and will miss Saturday’s match.
Regardless of the absence, Houston has proved its ability to be dangerous on both sides of the ball. During its first game of the
fall series, the Dash nearly beat North Carolina during a 4-3 thriller that displayed the danger of their counterattack.
“You could see how confident they were on the ball and all the things that brings from success and growing together,” Skinner said. “They’ll be a different chal
lenge. They’ll offer a different system; they’ll offer a different opportunity to play against, which gives an opportunity for some of our players to be exposed to that.”
Houston plays a fundamentally different style than the Courage. Rather than pressing, the Dash are content to sit in a lower block and rely on the speed of their forward line to exploit teams in transition.
The strategy could be beneficial for the Pride, who are looking to unlock their offense during their second match of the fall series. Skinner was pleased with his team’s defensive performance against North Carolina, with the team earning the second shutout of his tenure with the club.
The Pride showed improved ability to play out of the back through the Courage high press, but they struggled to move the ball into the attacking third. It became more difficult as the team suffered tired legs in the second half.
Orlando finished the match with four shots — three of which came in the first half — and took eight touches in the North Carolina box.
Against Houston, the Pride want to establish themselves offensively to offer more opportunities to veteran attackers Marta and Leroux.
The team will likely have the advantage of not being pinned by a high press, which will give the Pride space while building out of the back. But the middle block of Houston’s attack can be equally difficult to break down while advancing the ball to the forward line.
“[We need to] just play more proactive and not as reactive as we were against North Carolina,” Pride defender Ali Krieger said. “Getting into those spaces and into the positions early in order to affect the ball and affect the players on the ball — that’s going to be key for us.”