Pride close out home schedule vs. expansion San Diego
Despite all that has gone wrong for the Orlando Pride as their playoff push fell flat in the last month of the season, there’s this:
The expansion San Diego Wave (10-6-4, 34 points) hold the second-best record in NWSL and a victory Sunday would give the Pride a sweep.
It’ll be the final game at Exploria Stadium for the Pride (5-9-6, 21 points) before closing out the 2022 season on the road.
The Pride won at San Diego 1-0 during their first matchup Aug. 13 when goalkeeper Erin McLeod made 6 saves
After a seven-match unbeaten streak, the Pride have lost 4 games in a row, including a 3-0 loss to the N.C. Courage on Wednesday at Exploria, 2-0 vs. Racing Louisville, 2-0 vs. the Portland Thorns and 2-1 to the OL Reign.
Three of those losses came on their home field, and the Pride have been shutout three times in that stretch.
The offense has stalled and interim coach Seb Hines knows why.
“In order for us to play the way that we want to play we have to play quick,” he said after the blowout loss to the Courage. “We have to play aggressive. We have to face forwards. We have to do the little things, double movments, manipulate the opponent.”
The Pride have focused on youth since making a series of moves to trade veteran players, including before the season began. In July, they signed Maltese forward Haley Bugeja through the 2023 season and she has started to play.
Bugeja, 18, joined the Pride from Italian Serie A side US Sassuolo. She made her NWSL debut in the last game.
The Pride will end their season Oct. 1 at the OL Reign in Seattle.
