Thank you to Orlando City Communications for all pictures shown in this editorial.
By: Luis Carlos Pineda
Orlando Pride drew at home against the Kansas City Current at stoppage time with a penalty kick goal from Toni Pressley.
In the first half, Orlando came out swinging. Especially trying to quickly distribute the ball on the flanks through Petersen and Cluff to look for crosses for either Leroux or Pruitt. As soon as the game started, Courtney Petersen sent a beautiful cross to Leroux but the former USWNT striker, could not connect. Five minutes later, Leah Pruitt sent a cross to Leroux but KC’s backline cleared it to a corner kick. Unfortunately it was a wasted opportunity and both forwards could not connect. The first 15 minutes of the game were all crosses to Leroux. Right after Pruitt, Jonsdottir and Cluff followed. Unfortunately, all were unsuccessful chances for the Pride. Orlando Pride has had all the momentum and the most chances to be up on the scoreboard. In the 22nd minute, striker Leah Pruitt, with a superb first half, beat Franch in the 1v1 and her shot hit the crossbar, the play showed the great momentum Pruitt is having since she arrived to the Pride. She surely deserved to score. 41 minutes in and Orlando Pride throughout the first half did a great job at staying compact both offensively and defensively. It was a matter of time for Cromwell’s side to be up on the scoreboard.
In the second half, Coach Cromwell, subbed in Kylie Strom for Celia. Orlando kept their momentum of the first half and Strom started to create set piece chances for the Pride. In the 48th minute, set piece opportunity wasted by the Pride, Gunny Jonsdottir’s cross went straight to Franch’s hands. The game became back and forth but the Pride still dominated the possession of the ball. In the 51st minute, Gunny scored a Golazo, assisted by Sydney Leroux off a corner kick that was delivered by Darian Jenkins. The Wall erupted and the team celebrated together. It was a special moment for the players since they had so many chances in the first half. In the 60th minute, Leah Pruitt was subbed off and Kerry Abello came into the game. Pruitt had a phenomenal performance tonight, wish she would’ve gotten in the scoreboard. KC started to attack Orlando through both flanks but they were met by a solid Orlando Pride’s backline. Carrie Lawrence’s defensive game was on point and was super important for Orlando defensively. The few chances KC had the former UCF Knights delivered big time.
Unfortunately, in the 78th minute, Elyse Bennett scored. KC leveled the game 1-1. It was a cross through the left flank that caught Orlando’s backline off guard and Bennett just headed it in. Orlando attempted to keep their momentum but KC grew theirs. Both Bennett and Hamilton started being bothersome for Orlando’s backline. In the 81st minute, Hamilton almost scored the 2-1 for KC after a bad attempted scissor kick. KC’s momentum grew and Orlando’s diminished. KC started to dominate possession. In the 85th minute, Erin McLeod delivered big time for the Pride after containing a 1v1 opportunity created by Kristen Hamilton. The Canadian international kept the game leveled at Exploria Stadium. Throughout the game she had 4 key saves. KC’s momentum grew even more and went on the attacking onslaught. But unfortunately, in the 90th minute, Kristen Hamilton (KC) scored the 2-1 after Orlando’s backline fell asleep and left her wide open to score. Then, Kylie Strom was fouled and at first it seemed the ref indicated to be a free kick but then she pointed a penalty to the Pride. Orlando Pride leveled through Toni Pressley that scored a golazo off that PK.
Coach Amanda Cromwell in postgame press conference said: “The first half I thought we played well. I thought we should have controlled the tempo more. We were hitting too many long balls, getting too stretched and I think wasting energy to be quite honest. I think you could see that energy that was wasted in the first half kind of come around in the second half with some tired legs and some knocks that we were just trying to protect…We need to be better with the seeing it out and being more condensed because we got way too stretched, but way to fight back. I thought Kylie [Strom] was great coming on. She had a shot that just got tipped over at the end and she earned that penalty so I was really happy for Kylie. Getting a point kind of feels frustrating because I thought we were in control of the game in the first half and should have finished some of the chances. I have to give Kansas City credit for the last 20 [minutes]. They made some subs that were dynamic and fast and you could see our defense was tired.”
Orlando Pride will face the North Carolina Courage Wednesday on May 18th.
Vamos Orlando!
