During the beginning of the match, Gotham was aggressively attacking the Pride, with Rose Lavelle dominating her duels against Haley McCutcheon. Despite Banda’s impressive runs, she struggled against Emily Sonnet’s strong defense. However, at the start of the 6th minute, Berger made a mistake in goal for Gotham, leaving Adriana with a clear opportunity to score and giving the Pride a 1-0 lead. The goal was fantastic, with Kylie Strom providing the assist. Following the Pride’s initial goal, Orlando dominated the game.
Barbra Banda and Haley McCutcheon were instrumental in creating numerous threatening attacks that Gotham struggled to defend against. Then, in the 19th minute, Summer Yates delivered a brilliant assist to Adriana, who netted her second goal of the evening for the Pride. Following the second goal, Gotham started to gain momentum with a touch of urgency to level the score, resulting in an intense back-and-forth game. Despite their best efforts, Gotham struggled to break through the Pride’s defense. The first half was completely controlled by the Orlando Pride, with Gotham only managing a few scattered opportunities that were effectively countered by Orlando’s backline.
The Pride displayed a solid performance both defensively and offensively. One can only hope they can maintain this level of play in the second half. Barbra Banda missed an opportunity to give the Pride a three-goal lead in the 45th minute when her shot hit the right post. It was unlucky for the Zambian International player. Adriana was in a good position and could have scored three goals if Banda had passed instead of taking the shot that hit the post. Just a thought. Despite this, the Pride have been clearly outperforming Gotham FC in the first half. Gotham had a few moments of brilliance that were well defended by the strong Pride backline.
Moving on to the second half now. At the beginning of the second half, the competition was evenly matched between the two teams until Gotham almost scored in the 51st minute. There was a fast play and a pass that did not reach anyone. Shortly after, Gotham had another promising attack with a cross from Rose Lavelle that Crystal Dunn was unable to get on the end of. Seb Hines waited until the 65th minute of the second half to make any changes, at which point Julie Doyle entered the game. In the 77th minute, Nighswonger took a powerful shot that nearly escaped Anna Moorhouse’s grasp, coming dangerously close. Two minutes later, Orlando launched counterattacks that saw Banda sprinting towards Berger in a one-on-one situation, but the opportunity was thwarted by a foul.
By the 83rd minute, the Pride had another opportunity with Adriana, who once again squandered the chance by failing to pass to a teammate. Pickett fouled Jessica Silva close to the Pride box in the final minute, presenting the visitors with an opportunity. Stengel redirected Lavelle’s free kick towards the goal, but Moorhouse managed to catch it. In the second minute of stoppage time, Doyle made a clever move to protect the ball from Carter before maneuvering past two defenders to reach the penalty area. Adriana, who passed the ball to Doyle, made a run towards the 18-yard box and Doyle managed to find her. Despite trying to make history by scoring the first hat trick for the Pride, the midfielder’s shot was aimed straight at Berger.
At the opposite end of the field, Gotham had a promising opportunity to score in the fifth minute of added time when Stengel successfully headed the ball between Sams and Dyke. The setup was ideal for Taryn Torres, who aimed her shot towards the far post. Despite Moorhouse having little chance to block the shot, it narrowly missed the target and went wide of the goal post. In the ninth minute of stoppage time, it seemed that the Pride scored a third goal when Doyle skillfully maneuvered past two defenders and took a shot from the edge of the box. Despite the ball hitting the back of the net, the referee ruled it offside.
The Pride achieved their fifth clean sheet in the last six matches, showcasing their impressive defensive prowess which sets them apart as the top team in the league. During a season with many new achievements, the head coach made history tonight by securing his 26th win as Pride head coach. This surpasses Coach Tom Sermanni for the most wins in team history. Both coaches have only achieved wins in league play, so this record applies to NWSL and all competitions.
The Washington Spirit ended in a tie of 1-1 against the San Diego Wave, while the Kansas City Current suffered a defeat of 2-1 against the North Carolina Courage. Consequently, the Pride extended their lead on the field to six points.
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