ORLANDO, Fla. (May 21, 2021) - The Orlando Pride (0-0-1, 1 point) head out on the road to face the North Carolina Courage (0-0-1, 1 point) on Saturday, May 22 at WakeMed Soccer Park. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET. The match will be available to stream on Paramount+, with international viewers able to tune in on Twitch.
“They are a very, very difficult opponent. It’s going to be a tough challenge,” Orlando Pride Head Coach Marc Skinner said. “We need to do more than we did last time, however, we’ve got to add more of a threat going forward and the clinical kind of chances we want to create. I think we know how to do that and it’s just us having that consistency playing together that will create more opportunities for us to score and win the game.”
The Pride and Courage will look to break a deadlock dating back their last three contests, with two scoreless draws and a 3-3 result through their last trio of fixtures. Most recently, the Pride brought a point home to The City Beautiful from WakeMed Soccer Park in a scoreless draw on May 1 to conclude play in the NWSL Challenge Cup.
Orlando enters Saturday’s match after battling to a 1-1 draw with the Washington Spirit in its regular season opener this past Sunday. Ashley Hatch opened the scoring late, getting her head on a cross in the 76th minute before being answered by Alex Morgan in the 84th for the equalizer.
Morgan’s goal served as her first since the 2018 campaign, now the fourth member of the side to find the back of the net in the calendar year. Defender Phoebe McClernon registered the first goal contribution of her professional career on that very finish, earning the assist.
North Carolina also opened their 2021 regular season with a draw, a scoreless outing at Cheney Stadium against the OL Reign. Goalkeeper Casey Murphy recorded three saves for the Courage to keep the Reign scoreless and bring a point back to North Carolina.
Debinha finished as the Challenge Cup’s leading scorer with three finishes, while teammate Jessica McDonald led the league in assists with three to her credit.
Following Saturday’s match the Pride face a quick turnaround, set to take on the Portland Thorns on Wednesday, May 26 at Exploria Stadium before hosting Kansas City for the first time in The City Beautiful on Sunday, May 30.
