The Orlando Pride Orlando Pride (4-16-3, 15 points) fell 3-0 to the Washington Sport (9-8-6, 33 points. The match was the debut of goalkeeper Lainey Burdett and the home debut for forward Sydney Leroux on the season. The team also celebrated the 100th appearance of defender Kristen Edmonds as the 6,054 fans applauded.
In a game that really had little attention being that the Pride have been out of contention for a while now. Add to that the fact that their International and Team USA players were not playing, you could tell it was a deflating night for the Pride.
Washing ton came out of the gates as if everything was on the line. They presses hard, worked their sets well, and didn’t let up on Orlando one bit.
The Spirit scored quickly with a goal when Ashley Hatch, who collected the ball at the top of the box before sending a curling left footed strike into the far side of the goal.
Meanwhile, the Pride struggled to make the fit of the available players work. with only 47% of duels one (38% in the second period) Washington dominated on the field. Pride head coach Mar Skinner was none too pleased. with the cards he was dealt in this game.
“Individual errors, which you expect from people that are going to come in in their first start and so on.” said Skinner “Half of our duels are the oppositions’, we just give it away. That’s not good enough, it’s not good enough and I feel like I’m repeating myself. It’s just not good enough”
The Spirit added a goal in the 62nd minute when Crystal Thomas managed to send a shot off the right side after the Spirit picked off an errant pass.
Tiffany McCanty hit pay dirt in the 85th minute after chipping the ball in from the edge of the area.
Even though Lainey Burdett gave up three goals, she made some acrobatic saves to keep the Pride defacit from being worse.
The Pride’s final match is on Saturday June 12 at Exploris Stadium.
