ORLANDO, Fla. (June 10, 2016) – After two weeks without a match, Orlando Pride travels to face National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) foe Western New York Flash on Saturday, June 11, for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff.
Saturday’s match can be watched live at orlando-pride.com/live or can be followed on Twitter through the Pride’s official account, @ORLPride.
“Western New York is a very difficult team to play against. They’ve just had two home games where they’ve scored nine goals so they’ll be pretty confident as well,” said Orlando Pride Head Coach Tom Sermanni. “I think the key thing for us is to get the tactics right, get the selection right and I think if we do that we’ve got enough quality in the team to win the game.”
Orlando Pride will be expecting the return of U.S. Women’s National Team players Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris, who were called up for the friendly matches against Japan and missed the Pride’s last game at Kansas City. Morgan lead the USA with two goals in a 3-3 draw on July 2 and also scored in the team’s 2-0 win on July 5.
Fellow internationals Steph Catley (Australia), Laura Alleway (Australia), Josée Bélanger (Canada) and Monica (Brazil) will also be returning to the team after missing the last two weeks of training due to national team duties.
In addition to the internationals returning, the Pride are expecting to be injury free and at full strength entering Saturday’s match, with the exception of Cami Levin who remains on the 45-day disabled list after an appendectomy. Alleway and Kristen Edmonds are both be available for selection after sustaining injuries on May 20 at Houston.
“This means we can go back to our normal selection policy of looking at what we think the best team is, what we think will be the best tactics against Western New York and select a team from there,” Sermanni added.
The Pride have had a strong start to their inaugural season, currently sitting in fourth place in the league standings, but will look to respond after a disappointing 2-0 loss to reigning champion FC Kansas City back on May 28. The match marked the first professional start for goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe, who made four saves in her Orlando debut, and the first career appearance for rookie Christina Burkenroad.
The Flash enter the match coming off their biggest win of the season, a 4-0 victory over last-place Boston Breakers. The Orlando defense will look to neutralize a Flash offense that has outscored opponents 9-2 over its last two matches and, like the Pride, features a lot of speed.
The two clubs met earlier in the season with the Pride coming away with a 1-0 victory after a stunner goal from Morgan, chipping Flash goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo in the 79th minute from well outside the box.
With a tight call in the standings, a win on Saturday could push Orlando into first place in the league table pending the results of this weekend’s other NWSL matches.
After Saturday’s match, the Pride will conclude its four-game road trip on June 18 against the Washington Spirit. Orlando returns to Camping World Stadium on Wednesday, June 23, to host the Houston Dash at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Tickets for all Pride home matches are available at orlando-pride.com or by calling 855-ORL-CITY.
