ORLANDO, Fla. (June 1, 2017) – After three weeks away, Orlando Pride (1-3-3, 6 points) returns to Orlando City Stadium on Saturday evening, hosting the Boston Breakers (2-3-2, 8 points) at 7:30 p.m. ET. The match will mark just the third home game for the Pride, which played five of its first seven matches away from Central Florida.
Saturday’s match will livestreamed at NWSLsoccer.com, go90.com and on the go90 app. Live updates can also be followed on the Pride’s official Twitter page, @ORLPride.
“It’s not just the significance of this game. It’s the significance of turning our season around and getting results,” Pride Head Coach Tom Sermanni said. “There’s still another 17 games to go so you don’t pin everything on one game. But what is important is that we pick up points and that we start moving up the table and we start getting in contact with the teams in the top half.”
Orlando heads into Saturday’s match looking to repeat magic from its last home game when the Pride earned its first win of the season, taking down undefeated North Carolina Courage, 3-1, in front of the home crowd. The Pride burst into the second half of that match with two quick goals, scoring in the 49th and 50th minute, as well as a late insurance goal, en route to the three points.
Most recently, the Pride traveled to New Jersey where they fell, 2-1, to third-place Sky Blue FC. Orlando jumped on the board first through Jasmyne Spencer’s second goal of the season but the home side scored a goal on each side of halftime to take the win. The Pride also posted the highest possession total by any team this season. After controlling over 70 percent of the ball in the second half, Orlando finished with 66.7 percent possession for the game. In addition, the Pride saw a passing accuracy - which has been one of the team’s strongest categories this year - of 82.57 percent. That number ranks as the second best passing accuracy by any team so far this year.
Midfielder Camila continues to be the Pride’s strongest contributor in that category, and one of the keys to Orlando’s offense, with an 84.58 percent passing accuracy through seven games. Camila has two goals and two assists in her 628 minutes.
After finishing the 2016 season at the bottom of the table, the Breakers used the offseason to rebuild, adding U.S. Women’s National Team midfielder Rose Lavelle, New Zealand international Rosie White and defender Megan Oyster.
Like the Pride, the Breakers will be looking to get back on track after going winless in all four of their May games. Last week Boston fell, 2-0, to Portland Thorns FC after the home side scored both of its goals in the opening five minutes. Just one minute in, the Thorns went ahead on an own goal then Armandine Henry made it a two-goal game in the fifth minute.
Following Saturday’s match, the Pride have bye week for the FIFA window. Orlando will return to action on June 17, kicking off a home-and-home season with the Houston Dash. The Club first travels to BBVA Compass Stadium for a 8:30 p.m. ET match, then turning around to host the same side on June 24 at 4 p.m. at Orlando City Stadium. The latter match will be broadcast as the NWSL Game of the Week on Lifetime.
