Match Preview: NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. Orlando Pride
Subaru Park | Chester, Pennsylvania – Saturday, August 20 at 7:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Gotham FC midfielder McCall Zerboni scored her side’s lone goal on Wednesday night while playing in her 190th NWSL match (regular season and playoffs). Only OL Reign’s Lauren Barnes (191) has played more games in league history. Saturday’s hosts have not picked up the results they’d like as of late, losing five straight and scoring just four goals in the process. In that span, midfielder Paige Monaghan and forward Midge Purce have scored, as has forward Taylor Smith and Zerboni. However, Gotham’s 11 total goals scored on their have them last in the league.
Orlando Pride goalkeeper Erin McLeod made six saves in the shutout win against the Wave, her second clean sheet this season with at least five saves. McLeod joins Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury and Louisville shotstopper Katie Lund as the only goalkeepers with multiple shutouts with five or more saves. The Pride have seen their goalscoring distributed evenly over their last three games, with four different scorers helping to tally up their five goals.
Match facts: Gotham FC welcomes the Orlando Pride to Subaru Park for the first of three games across the league on Saturday night, with the hosts looking to avoid a sixth straight defeat and the visitors aiming to extend their unbeaten run to seven games in a run that has spanned nearly two calendar months.
In its last three home games, Gotham FC has been outscored 10-2 with three losses and allowing at least three goals in all three games. It is the third time in NWSL history that a team has lost three consecutive home games while also allowing three or more goals (2019 Orlando, 2017 Washington).
The Pride, though, are unbeaten in six straight games (W2 D4) after the club’s big 1-0 win over San Diego on Saturday. Orlando has four wins in matches decided by exactly one goal this season (L1) compared to zero wins in games decided by multiple goals (L4).
The teams have not met since both team’s season opener on May 1, where Gotham FC scored a decisive 3-0 road victory over Orlando. The victory is the only time this year that Gotham has won a match by multiple goals.
