The Orlando Pride opened their 2019 campaign with a loss to the vaunted Portland Timbers.
Portland held control for a good amount of the game, and got scoring from Australian forward Caitlin Foord as well as USWNT midfielder Toban Heath.
Orlando was held to just two shots on goal, including an Alex Morgan distance shot that hit the crossbar.
“It wasn’t good enough from us.” said Pride Head Coach Marc Skinner ” I think that all of the things we looked at doing in preseason, we didn’t effect first half. We just didn’t do them, so we had some words at halftime. We had a better second half; still not good enough. That’s nothing against players, that’s nothing personal, that’s nothing me telling that the players aren’t good enough. That’s me saying as a team, as a collective, we were not good enough in that game and it’s the reason we lost. It’s just as simple as that.”
The Pride’s opener as the match marked the professional debuts for Joanna Boyles and 2019 NWSL College Draft pick Erin Greening. In addition, midfielder Bridget Callahan made her first professional start.
Thought Portland held control of most of the play, the didn’t manage to score until the 45th minute, when Heath found the ball at her feet inside the Pride penalty area. Faced up against two defenders she rolled the ball back to the feet of Foord who easily finished against Harris who was not ready in goal.
Later in the match, Foord found herself on the right side of goal and played the ball on the ground across the front of the six yard box. The ball was behind Heath, but she managed to catch the ball as it went past and redirect it on goal as is slow rolled past Harris.
the Pride next travel to Cary, NC to Face the Carolina Courage on Wednesday April 17th. The Courage beat Orlando in pre-season 4-0.
