ORLANDO, Fla. (July 5, 2018) - Orlando Pride (6-5-4, 22 points) will finish its three-game homestand against the Washington Spirit (2-9-4, 10 points) in the final matchup between the two squads this season on Saturday, July 7. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at Orlando City Stadium.
The match will be nationally broadcast on ESPNews with Jenn Hildreth, Angela Hucles and Dalen Cuff on the call. Tickets for Saturday’s match can be purchased at orlando-pride.com/tickets or by calling (855) ORL-CITY.
“Teams, players and people involved in sport -- you have to be resilient. There’s always going to be highs and there’s going to be lows. The key thing for us is to put both of last week’s results behind us and keep moving on,” Pride Head Coach Tom Sermanni said. “[Washington] are a tough side but they haven’t scored in about 450 minutes so it’s really important that we keep that record going for them. But we need to focus on what we do well and what we have to do to win that game. We’re in that stage where we need to keep in and amongst the pack to, first make sure we get in the [playoff] four, but secondly we get as high up in the four as possible. And winning home games is critical of that.”
The Pride enter the match after falling 3-0 to the league-leading North Carolina Courage on Saturday in the Lifetime Game of the Week. That match marked the 50th regular-season National Women’s Soccer League appearance for Alanna Kennedy, as well as the return of defender Ali Krieger who missed the four previous matches with a right knee injury.
Rachel Hill, Sydney Leroux and Chioma Ubogagu share the lead for the Pride with four goals each, with Alex Morgan close behind with three. Christine Nairn’s four assists are tied with five other players for the second-most in the league.
The Washington Spirit come to Orlando after falling 2-0 to the Chicago Red Stars, making it six matches since the team’s last victory. Former Orlando Pride goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe made six saves during the match to give her a league-leading 70 saves this year, 24 more than Orlando’s Ashlyn Harris, who boasts the second-most saves in the league.
Ashley Hatch and Francisca Ordega lead the Spirit with three goals each.
The Pride will look to repeat their previous performance against Washington, a 1-0 road victory on June 23 that saw Alanna Kennedy score a golazo from midfield to secure the win. Harris made three saves during the match to set the Club record for the most clean sheets in a single season with five.
This match will be the final time these two teams face each other, having previous played during the second match of the season on March 31.
