Fortified Pride look to continue NWSL surge on road against NJ/NY Gotham
Unbeaten in six straight matches, the Orlando Pride (4-5-6, 18 points) will face NWSL foe NJ/NY Gotham FC (4-10-0, 12 points) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Subaru Park near Philadelphia.
“They are a good team,” Pride acting head coach Seb Hines said. “They have some good players and we have to be aware of that. Every week there are so many problems that teams can cause us and we have to prepare as best as we can to get a performance away from home.”
The two sides are fairly familiar with one another, having played three matches across all competitions this season early in the year.
Two of the games came in the NWSL Challenge Cup and the third one served as their regular-season opener on May 1, a 3-0 Gotham victory at Exploria Stadium.
Both teams have changed drastically since and are aiming for late playoff pushes. Orlando is five points outside of a top-six spot to qualify for the postseason.
The Pride are coming off a 1-0 road victory over 2022 expansion side but NWSL power San Diego Wave. Goalkeeper Erin McLeod made six saves in the match to preserve the clean sheet, her fourth of the regular season and fifth across all competitions.
The Pride, whose unbeaten streak dates to July 3 and includes four draws, scored on a first-half penalty goal by Meggie Dougherty Howard. A victory or draw on Saturday will tie the second-longest unbeaten streak for the Pride, who didn’t lose in the first seven games at the start of the 2021 regular season.
Gotham lost 2-1 on Wednesday night in Houston to take on the Dash on Wednesday night.
NJ/NY had to play with 10 players after forward Midge Purce received a second yellow card in the 58th minute. After that, Gotham gave up two goals within three minutes of one another. Gotham was able to pull one back courtesy of McCall Zerboni but was not able to find the equalizer.
This past week the Pride acquired forward Ally Watt from OL Reign as well as defender Haley Hanson from Houston. Watt had appeared in all but one of the Reign’s 22 total matches across all competitions this season. Hanson had played in 15 matches for the Dash and also played a pivotal role in helping lead Houston to the first NWSL Challenge Cup title in 2020.
Following Saturday’s match, the Pride’s next game will be at home against the Reign on Aug. 26 at 7 p.m.
Saturday’s match will take place at the home of Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, Subaru Park. The match will be the second time Gotham FC has played in Chester, just south of the City of Brotherly Love, and the first time the Pride will play at the venue. Gotham hosted a game at the same location in 2021 as a send-off to former midfielder Carli Lloyd.
