Your Pride starting XI for #ORLvCHI. #VamosOrlando pic.twitter.com/5wr2nYdRlr
— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) August 25, 2018
ORLANDO, Fla. – With each of the Orlando Pride’s last two games of the 2018 regular season being must-wins to make the playoffs, the 2016 expansion side needed a sense of urgency.
Unfortunately for Pride Head Coach Tom Sermanni and his team, that’s not what they showed in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Red Stars Saturday night at Orlando City Stadium in front of 5,016 fans. For Sermanni, apart from midfielder Dani Weatherholt and forward Marta Vieira da Silva, the urgency wasn’t there.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” Sermanni said after the Pride’s third-straight loss. “We have honestly tried multiple things in training weeks this year to try and stop exactly [a lack of urgency]… But there just seems to be a reluctance to do stuff… I don’t know. I can’t turn around and say any other player has played to the expectations that we have of them.
“That’s that energy, enthusiasm, doing things quickly. The answer is I don’t know the answer. I see the problem that you’re seeing, and it’s 100 percent right — 100 percent right.”
Forward Sam Kerr was all the visiting side needed in its first win over Orlando (8-9-6, 30 points) of the 2018 season. She started her match-winning effort by scoring the opening goal in the 44th minute.
Chicago (8-4-10, 34 points) used just two passes from its side of the pitch to eventually get the ball to Kerr. The initial ball was sent to forward Yuki Nagasato, who flicked the ball forward to a sprinting Kerr.
With Pride center back Ali Krieger pushed up on Nagasato, Kerr sprinted down the heart of the Pride’s defense before evading defender Shelina Zadorsky for a powerful, low shot past keeper Ashlyn Harris and a 1-0 lead.
No more than two minutes later did Kerr help double the Red Stars’ lead. In first-half stoppage time, Kerr slipped past Zadorsky and Krieger near the right end line, just outside of the Pride’s 6-yard box. She, then, sent a centering pass to Vanessa Di Bernardo for a one-timed blast past a diving Harris.
“It’s a bit frustrating. I’m upset; I’m sad,” Krieger said after the loss. “It’s tough because we had such high expectations for the season, and you don’t meet those expectations with the caliber of players that we have. It’s a bit frustrating., and we’ve under-performed.
“Fortunately, we have each other at the end of the day, and we have to regroup at the end of the season after next game and reevaluate our performances and reevaluate ourselves and really dig deep and figure out what we can do better and how we can build the chemistry back and move forward.”
Kerr wasn’t finished imposing herself on the Pride. She recorded her second goal of the match 14 minutes into the second half. The Australian’s second goal came by way of a defensive turnover by fellow Aussie Alanna Kennedy.
Kennedy received the ball near the top of the Prides box and dribbled backward. Kerr pounced on the opportunity and stripped her national-team teammate of the ball before unloading a shot past Harris’ outstretched leg for a 3-0 lead.
“To be honest, I’m a little bit embarrassed by the performance tonight, if I’m being frank,” Sermanni said. “… But it’s just some of the fundamental things that we do or don’t do [that] are really coming back to haunt us.
“An example of thati s we’ve played against Sam Kerr numerous times now. We talk about her not getting in behind. And she’s probably going to get in behind your defense once or twice in a game if you’re alert. But to get in seven, eight, nine times is just — stuff like that is unacceptable for the quality of players that we’ve got.”
The Pride, however, found life in a goal by United States women’s national-team star Alex Morgan. Marta sent in a cross from near the left sideline to the near post, finding Morgan for a headed flick to the far post past the outstretched-but-folly effort of Red Stars goalie Alyssa Naeher.
Who’s Next?
The Pride will conclude the 2018 season with a visit to last-place Sky Blue FC (0-15-5, 5 points).
For more on the Pride, as they play their final match of the year, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com, or you can tweet at him.
