Match Preview: OL Reign vs. Orlando Pride
Lumen Field | Seattle, Washington – Saturday, October 1 at 10:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
OL Reign forward Bethany Balcer scored the opening goal in OL Reign’s 2-0 victory against Houston on Saturday. Balcer is now tied with teammate Megan Rapinoe for the team lead in goals this season (six) and has already netted once against the Pride this season, scoring in their 2-1 win in August.
Orlando midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard scored the first goal of the game for the Pride in their draw with San Diego on Sunday. She now holds the team lead in goals with three, tying Paige Monaghan and Midge Purce (both on Gotham FC) as the fewest for a team leader in NWSL this season.
Match facts: The OL Reign close out the regular season at home as they welcome the Orlando Pride to Lumen Field in Seattle. Though the Pride are on the outside looking in for the playoff conversation, the Reign sit in second place and are very much in the hunt for the Shield. A win for OL Reign and a draw or loss for Portland would help them achieve such a feat, while the club can also finish as low as fourth depending on other results around the league.
The Reign have lost just once in their last nine games (W6 D1) since losing to Kansas City, 1-0, in July. In addition, they have also scored at least once in each game in that time. In the 12 games this season prior to this stretch, OL Reign scored in just eight of those matches.
Orlando, meanwhile, ended a four-match losing streak its last time out against the San Diego Wave on Sunday with a 2-2 draw. However, it did not end its run of games conceding more than one goal, a streak starting against OL Reign at the end of August. The five-match streak conceding multiple goals is the longest in team history.
After losing the first game in the fixture in 2016, OL Reign have gone unbeaten in 12 games against Orlando (W5 D7). Only two fixtures in NWSL history have seen longer undefeated streaks in the regular season, with Chicago failing to beat Portland in 18 straight games from 2013-2021 and Sky Blue FC failing to beat Chicago in 15 straight from 2013-2018. In their last encounter, Orlando’s Meggie Dougherty Howard opened the scoring, but second half goals from Bethany Balcer and Megan Rapinoe, including Rapinoe’s stunning winner in the second minute of stoppage time, helped turn the game around in the Reign’s favor.
