On Sunday night, with the Pride looking for their first three point performance of the season, not everything went to plan. Passes were missed, chances were slim and the roster was limited. Despite it all, the team emerged with the 1-0 win.
With key players Monica, Alanna Kennedy, Emily van Egmond and MVP candidate Marta still away on international duty, it would be easy to sweep any struggles under the rug.
"Here's the problem when you have really good international players: you tend to rely on them,” said Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris after the win.
“We have really good league players and I'm not scared to say this; at halftime I went up to Kristen Edmonds and I said, 'You are one hell of a player. You are good on the ball. You are technical. You are good enough to be here. I need you to be better. I need you to be on the ball constantly. I need you running at that back line.' We need players like her to feel like huge key players on this team because she is.”
One of those league players, Chioma Ubogagu, delivered the game winning goal. A header via a fantastic delivery from Christine Nairn.
“I was very relieved and very happy,” said head coach Tom Sermanni on the goal. “But it was good because she kept plugging away and she kept getting in there. It was a terrific free kick, but somebody’s still got to get on the end of it, and she did that. That’s what’s really important. Those are the things we talked about. Those are some of the small things that make a difference between winning and losing in this league. As I say, I thought we did them well in the second half.”
"It's funny, some games it just takes heart and grit and sacrifice and putting your body on the line even when things aren't necessarily connecting and going as planned,” said Ashlyn Harris. “I think tonight was one of those games. There were moments when it was nice but it was a little disjointed and disconnected. We had limited chances to score but when we got in front of the net, it just wasn't happening for us tonight. I think that this win is out of pure grit.”
With the Pride expected to be at full strength for the first time in the coming week, don’t expect that heart and grit to falter.
"Competition unleashes the beast in people,” said Ubogagu of her returning teammates. “It challenges you and makes you dig deeper. This will only make us improve and strive for success. I think this is only going to help us even more."
