ORLANDO – Orlando Pride couldn’t make a good start count and paid the price late in the match as Gotham FC NJ/NY scored a late winner to clinch a 1-0 result in Wednesday’s NWSL Challenge Cup match. The result leaves Pride needing a big swing in the closing matches to get through to the final.
The goal came in the 79th minute through a Paige Monaghan tap-in. She was on hand at the far post to simply redirect Ifeoma Onumonu’s cross after her rampaging run down the right wing.
It was a better start for the Pride, flying out of the box in their first home match since October 2019. That press continued throughout the match as Orlando outshot the NJ/NY side 17-7 but could not make it count with Sydney LeRoux leading the way with seven of those shots.
“Extremely frustrating result. If you don’t take the opportunity to score, there is always an opportunity for the opposition to force an error or to force a focus mistake and obviously they got an opportunity at the end and finished it well. It’s important that we took a step forward in terms of we were better in much more parts of our game. The press was better at times and it was a progression in the right step for a team that’s relatively new at playing together.”
Orlando Pride Head Coach Mark Skinner
The score could have been worse, in the 12th minute Gotham had a penalty awarded but Ashlyn Harris came up big for Orlando to make the save, one of only two she made in the match.
Instead of waiting over 500 days, the next home match for Orlando Pride is only a seven day wait, the Pride will take on Washington Spirit at Exploria Stadium on Wednesday, the last match at home for the NWSL Challenge Cup.
Photo courtesy Orlando Pride
Florida Soccer Report 