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Orlando Pride got their first home win of the season by defeating the Houston Dash, 1-0. Friday, it was the Pride’s second positive result under Seb Hines and Giles Barnes. Both teams came into the game with some absences but realistically speaking, everything pointed for Houston to get the easy three points.
In the first half, both teams came out with a lot of intensity but the Pride created the most chances in attack. The only issue with the Pride in the first half was that when they went in transition attack they either lost the ball or turned it over in the attacking third. The Dash was not able to capitalize on any of their chances created or on any of the turnovers the Pride provided for them.
Seb Hines’ Orlando Pride is different from previous versions of this team. You saw see a higher intensity when defending and pressing their opponents, forcing them to make mistakes and automatically go for the counter play. Also, the Pride had chances created from set pieces, something that it was non existent in previous versions of Orlando Pride. The Pride was the better team throughout 90 minutes. Again, Orlando needs to do better with the turnovers and they need to improve on their finishing. Kerry Abello, Darian Jenkins and Viviana Villacorta generated several plays and it was tough for Houston’s backline to contain them. But also, it became tedious for the Pride to finish the play and score on any of the chances. Orlando Pride’s goal was an own goal. Carrie Lawrence sent a great cross to Kylie Strom and she was able to head the ball in. Exploria exploded and the Black Swans rejoiced. The goal was the cherry on the cake of a wonderful Pride performance and also great coaching from Seb Hines and Giles Barnes that made the right substitutions to improve Orlando’s chances not only on set pieces but also provided the team with fresh legs to keep the team defensively compact throughout the 90 minutes.
Seb Hines said in postgame press conference: “I think the players understood today that winning is hard. It is hard work and it was a collective effort. They had a real grit and determination on and off the ball. Houston causes some problems, like we had to try and figure it out. They clogged the middle and the areas that we like to exploit. We had to get some thinking at halftime about how we are going to create more goal scoring opportunities. We deserved a goal. It was a lucky goal, but we deserved it. We deserved to win last week and we deserved to win this week. A little bit of luck went on our side. Overall, I can’t talk about the players enough and say how well they did. The players that came on made a difference and they understand that it is a collective effort. It is not just individuals, it is a team.”
Friday’s performance is a testament that this new found Pride with young and exciting players, are willing to roll up their sleeves and work with the coaching staff for the betterment of the team. If Seb keeps working on maintaining that level of intensity displayed today throughout the 90 minutes, and with the additions of Cosme, Haley Brugeja and Gunny Jonsdottir, Orlando has a chance to compete against anyone in the NWSL this season.
Orlando Pride will travel to face the Washington Spirit on Sunday July 17th. Vamos Orlando! Let’s go Pride!
