Battle of the Best
On Sunday, the league’s most prolific goalscorers will match up on opposite sides of the ball. Entering the weekend, both the Pride’s Sydney Leroux and OL’s Bethany Balcer lead the NWSL with eight goals apiece. Leroux currently holds the tiebreaker in the Golden Boot race, with two assists on the year compared to Balcer’s zero.
Longest StreakÂ
The Orlando Pride currently hold the record for consecutive regular season away matches with a goal scored (17 games). The streak started on June 15, 2019 in Houston, and in every regular season away match since, the Pride have netted at least one goal. Orlando has scored against every team at their home venue during the streak except for Racing Louisville, who the Pride have yet to take on in a regular season away match.Â
Leroux’s Big Week
Sydney Leroux opened the scoring in the Pride’s last match on Sept. 11. The goal served as the Pride’s 150th goal in Club history. Leroux also had a hand in each of the Pride’s other goals on the night, recording the assist for Alex Morgan’s goal and adding the crucial pass to set up a finish for Marta. With Leroux’s goal and assist, she was awarded NWSL’s Player of the Week, serving as the first time this regular season a Pride player has been awarded the title. Ashlyn Harris earned the honor during Week 2 of the 2021 Challenge Cup earlier this year.
Professional DebutÂ
University of Florida product Parker Roberts made her professional debut for the Pride last week against Racing Louisville, replacing Marta in the second minute of stoppage time. The minutes were Roberts’ first for the Club since signing through the remainder of the season on August 26 after a decorated collegiate career under current Pride interim Head Coach Becky Burleigh with the Gators.Â
150 for the Pride
Sydney Leroux scored the Pride’s 150th goal across all competitions with the opening goal against Racing Louisville on September 11. In addition to Leroux’s goal, Marta and Alex Morgan both found the back of the net, tallying three goals for the Pride, with three finishes serving as the most the side has scored at Exploria Stadium in the calendar year. The feat marked the first time all three players have scored in the same match since becoming teammates in 2018.Â
Club, Country and Captains
Alex Morgan appeared in both matches for the U.S. WNT against Paraguay this past week. Morgan started and captained the team in the U.S’s second match, where she went on to record a hat trick in 61 minutes of play.Â
Marta also appeared twice for Brazil and served as the squad’s captain during the international break. Brazil took on Argentina and won both matches by scores of 3-1 and 4-1 respectively, with Marta scoring a goal in the latter match.Â
Gunny JĂłnsdĂłttir was the captain for the Iceland national team, who took on the Netherlands on Tuesday, dropping the decision 2-0.Â
Milestone Tracker
Forwards Sydney Leroux (39) and Alex Morgan (38) are only one and two goals away, respectively, from scoring 40 goals across all NWSL competitions.Â
Erika Tymrak has appeared in 142 matches across all competitions, just eight away from 150 NWSL appearances.Â
Alex Morgan (97) currently sits three caps short of 100 regular season NWSL appearances, with 61 of those coming in purple for the Orlando Pride.
