ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 16, 2020) - Orlando Pride (0-2-1, 1 point) takes the field for the final time this year on Saturday, Oct. 17, set to host the North Carolina Courage (1-1-1, 4 points) at Exploria Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET with the match set to be nationally televised on CBS.
“I’m expecting a vast counterattack in North Carolina. We’re very principle led in terms of what we want to achieve with a slight adjustment in the game tactics. They have world class players like Debinha, Lynn Williams is obviously very dangerous and they’ve still got [Abby] Dahlkemper that runs the line at the back,” Head Coach Marc Skinner said. “We have to attack fast, with quality, and I think what we learned from last week is that we didn’t move the ball near well enough in the first half. In the second half, we moved and we played and we expressed ourselves and I think if we can do that then we stand a good chance of getting a really positive result from the game. That’s what I’m going to remind the players to control during this game.”
The match will serve as the Pride’s return to Exploria Stadium for the first time since October 12, 2019 and the Club’s Breast Cancer Awareness Match. Members of the Pride will wear pink warm-up tops prior to the game that will be raffled off at a later date.
The Pride come into the contest after falling 2-1 to the Houston Dash last Friday at Osceola County Stadium, housed on the grounds of the Orlando City SC Training Ground. The Dash took a two-goal lead into the halftime break behind goals from Shea Groom and Veronica Latsko, but the Pride answered in the 47th with Sydney Leroux’s first goal since 2018, however the rally came up short for Orlando in the end.
That match saw goalkeeper Brittany Wilson make her NWSL debut, registering five saves on the night. Wilson joined the Pride in March as a preseason trialist and later signed a full contract with the Club ahead of the Fall Series.
Leroux now sits tied for the team lead in goals throughout the Fall Series with midfielder Marisa Viggiano, while Chelsee Washington and Abby Elinsky hold the team lead in assists at one apiece.
North Carolina comes into the contest with their last outing resulting in a 4-1 loss to the Dash at BBVA Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 4. Kristie Mewis totaled four goal contributions in the match, finding the back of the net once while registering the assists on the Dash’s three other finishes. Lynn Williams scored the lone goal for the Courage in the 74th minute of play.
Williams sits tied with Debinha for the team lead at two goals apiece through the Courage’s three Fall Series matches, while four members of the side sit tied for the team high in assists at one each.
