ORLANDO, Fla. (May 23, 2019) - Orlando Pride (0-5-1, 1 point) travels west for a matchup with the Utah Royals FC (3-1-1, 10 points) on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET at Rio Tinto Stadium.
The match will be nationally streamed on Yahoo! Sports. International fans can tune in on NWSLsoccer.com.
“It has been nice to have the bye week to have a little bit of time to prepare,” Head Coach Marc Skinner said. “When we hit the first week, we had three games of three different types of teams. Now we’ve had a little bit of time to prepare and I want to see how the girls come up in the game and show us what they’ve learned.”
The Pride enter Saturday’s match coming off a 3-1 defeat to Portland on May 11, followed by a week off last weekend. Toni Pressley’s opening goal in the 10th minute was not enough as the Thorns stormed back for three-straight goals to defeat the Pride at Orlando City Stadium.
The May 11 match against Portland was the last for the Pride’s Brazilian and Australian internationals as each joined their respective nations for 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup preparations following the contest. The Pride now begin a stretch of matches without eight of its players who will compete in France this summer.
Utah enters the contest on the back of a 1-1 draw at the North Carolina Courage last Sunday. In that match, Amy Rodriguez opened the scoring the seventh minute, but Elizabeth Eddy leveled the two sides in the 78th minute with a goal for the Courage, forcing the two to split the points on the night.
Rodriguez leads the Royals with three of the team’s five goals this season. Like Orlando, Utah will be without several key internationals in Desiree Scott (Canada), Kate Bowen (New Zealand) and Rachel Corsie (Scotland) as well as U.S. Women’s National Team players Kelley O’Hara, Christen Press and Becky Sauerbrunn. Canadian Diana Matheson is also out due to injury.
Saturday’s match will be the second between the two clubs this season, with the Pride looking to avenge a 1-0 loss at Orlando City Stadium on April 27. The Pride host the Royals once more at Orlando City Stadium on August 17.
