To The Moon
To the Moon night is happening on Friday night at Exploria Stadium for the Pride and Thorns match, presented by Rasmussen University. The night is inspired by NASA’s Artemis Lunar Exploration Program, which aims to land the first woman on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. The Pride will spend the night celebrating the contributions of women in STEM in Central Florida.Â
Best XI
Pride midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard was named to NWSL Best XI of the Month for the month of August. NWSL launched the Best XI of the Month awards platform with the First Team and Second Team honors for the 22 top players of the league last season. Dougherty Howard has appeared in all four games in the month of August for the Pride and recorded two goals. One of those goals served as the game winner when she stepped up to the penalty spot and scored, giving the Pride a 1-0 victory over the San Diego Wave, on the road.Â
Cinquenta Para Celia
Defender Celia started in the last match against OL Reign which marked her 50th appearance in the NWSL across all competitions. Celia spent the first three seasons of her NWSL career as a member of OL Reign. This season, the Spain native has started in 14 games and recorded two goals while rocking the Pride kit.Â
Streak Snapped
Prior to the loss against the Reign, the Pride had a run of seven consecutive games in which they went unbeaten. The run was tied for the second-longest win streak in the Club’s history and collected a record of 3-0-4 during that span. Two of the three victories came on the road which were a 1-0 win over the Wave and a 2-1 win over NJ/NY Gotham.Â
For Club and Country
The Pride had two players get called into international camp this past week. Midfielder Gunny Jónsdóttir was called into camp to represent Iceland in two Women’s World Cup qualifiers. Jónsdóttir appeared in both of their matches, which were a 6-1 victory over Belarus and a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to the Netherlands. Forward Haley Bugeja also joined Malta for camp.Â
Milestone Tracker
- Erika Tymrak is one goal away from 20 in her NWSL career
- Meggie Dougherty Howard is one regular season appearances away from 100 in the NWSL
- Gunny Jónsdóttir is four appearances away from 100 across all NWSL competitions
- Darian Jenkins is one goal away from 10 across all NWSL competitions
- Courtney Petersen is one appearance away from 50 across all competitions for the Pride
