Match Preview: Orlando Pride vs. Portland Thorns FC
Exploria Stadium | Orlando, Florida – Friday, September 9 at 7:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Orlando midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard scored the Pride’s lone goal against the Reign in the club’s last match. Dougherty Howard has two goals in her last three matches after scoring just once in the NWSL regular season prior to that (96 matches). In addition, the club will look to newly acquired forward Ally Watt, who after joining from OL Reign in mid-August managed to score on her debut in a 2-1 away win over Gotham FC.
Portland forward Morgan Weaver attempted four shots against the Wave in their last outing, bringing her total to 39 on the season. Since July 1, Weaver has 25 shot attempts which is tied with teammate Sophia Smithand North Carolina forward Diana Ordoñez for second most in the NWSL in that time, behind only Houston’s Ebony Salmon with 27 attempts. Speaking of Smith, the forward’s 11 goals on the year thus far have her sitting second in the league’s scoring charts just behind San Diego forward Alex Morgan, who has tallied 13 goals on the year.
Match facts: The Orlando Pride return to action on Friday night as they welcome Portland Thorns FC to Exploria Stadium with the Road to the Shield race heating up. Orlando currently sits in eighth place, five points off the Chicago Red Stars who currently sit in sixth and would hold the final playoff spot had the season ended. Meanwhile, though Portland is in fourth place now, the club is just three points off a tie for first place and has a game in hand on both San Diego (1st place – 31 points) and Houston (2nd place – 29 points).
Though Orlando has shown promising signs of late, the club’s seven-game unbeaten streak (W3 D4) came to an end with a 2-1 loss to OL Reign. The Pride fell despite having a 1-0 halftime lead, making it their first loss in a game they led at the half since June 27, 2018 against the Dash.
Meanwhile, the Thorns have lost two straight matches for the first time this season following a 3-1 loss against North Carolina and a 2-0 defeat against San Diego. Portland has not had a single-season three-game losing streak since July of 2015 with all other NWSL teams combining to have 48 losing streaks of at least three games since that time.
Now the pair face each other heading into the home stretch of the regular season, with the lone meeting of the year so far, a lopsided 6-0 home win for the Thorns. The scoreline was the largest loss in Pride history and was the second time in NWSL history that a team scored six goals while conceding none (Courage vs. Thorns in 2019).
