ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 8, 2020) - Orlando Pride (0-1-1, 1 point) return to action on Friday, Oct. 9, set to take on the Houston Dash (2-1-0, 6 points) at Osceola County Stadium housed on the grounds of the Orlando City SC Training Ground. Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m. ET in a nationally televised match on CBS Sports Network.
“Houston is very good at the minute and is paying off from having a consistent group together. They’re playing well and, watching the game the other night, they deserved to beat North Carolina. They’re definitely taking advantage of this moment and they look like they’re in a cohesive unit,” Head Coach Marc Skinner said of Friday’s opposition. “I think there’s lots for us to be better at. We’ve got to move the ball better, we’ve got to be better on the ball, we’ve got to want the ball a lot better than we did [last time]. You could see some of the disconnections from not playing together that our team had that Houston didn’t suffer from, so there are things that we’ve fixed. It will be difficult and we know our team has to pull together to make sure we do everything right in order to get the result we want.”
The Pride return to the pitch following a week off from match play, last taking on the Dash at BBVA Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26. The home side took a 3-1 victory from the contest, with Marisa Viggiano scoring the lone goal for the Pride in the third minute of first half stoppage time. Midfielder Chelsee Washington earned the assist on that finish in her first NWSL start.
The match also saw the NWSL debuts of defenders Konya Plummer and Ally Haran, along with midfielder Savanah Uveges. Plummer was selected 10th overall by the Pride at the 2020 NWSL College Draft, while Haran and Uveges were signed to short-term contracts by the Club ahead of the NWSL Fall Series.
Houston comes into Friday’s contest after defeating the North Carolina Courage 4-1 on Sunday night. The Dash scored twice on both sides of the half with Sophie Schmidt, Veronica Latsko, Kristie Mewis and Shea Groom all finding the back of the net in the match.
Schmidt leads the Dash with three goals through the Fall Series, followed by the three other goalscorers from Sunday’s match at two apiece. Mewis sits tied for the league lead in assists through the competition with three.
Following Friday’s match, the Pride will close out the Fall Series at home against the North Carolina Courage on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Exploria Stadium. The Pride’s complete Fall Series roster can be found at the link here.
