On Sunday, the Orlando Pride found their first victory of the season at Orlando City Stadium thanks to goals from three different players. Chioma Ubogagu opened scoring in the 49th minute, finding the back of the net off a cross from Ali Krieger. Camila added to that tally one minute later, putting the Pride up 2-0. The Courage were quickly able to get one back, creating some tension in the Pride, but Jasmyne Spencer scored in the 82nd minute, solidifying the team’s 3-1 win.
The Pride offense is relatively young, and relatively new to the NWSL. With goals from Ubogagu and Camila, Head Coach Tom Sermanni believes he starting to see the development of his young players and the payoff of their success.
“We feel that the players that we have got have real talent and it takes a little bit of time to adjust,” Sermanni said. “Camila’s coming in as a young Brazilian. Adjusting to this league isn’t easy and she’s done a fantastic job. And I think Chioma [Ubogagu]-- and I know I’ve spoken to her multiple times about it-- has all the talent, it’s just a matter of finishing stuff off and she did that today. So, I think that will give her the confidence moving forward. The other important thing today is to have three different scorers on the sheet. Again, one of the things you don’t want to have is a reliance on one player scoring the goals for you. So, I think it’s really important that we have three different players scoring today.”
Ubogagu made her first goal of the young season count.
“It felt amazing,” Ubogagu said. “Especially because I felt like we played a really great first half. I feel defensively that everyone was committed to defending as a team, and we weren’t getting too many chances, but we felt confident that it would eventually open up. So, in the second half, to get a goal early, I’m grateful and it was awesome to help the team.”
“Krieger’s a great player, and I think one of her best assets is her services, and she played a great ball,” Ubogagu said. “I don’t think it missed anyone, I just think it was a hard ball to deal with and I just wanted to make sure I was helping offensively and getting in the box and it fell towards me and I just wanted to put it on frame.”
Sermanni was also happy to see a goal off the bench, and said that both Spencer and Christina Burkenroad-- who came in as a substitute for Jamia Fields-- brought a new energy to the pitch that helped clinch the victory.
“I think that’s critical. This is one of the difficulties when you’re building a new team within the U..S system is that one of the key parts of being a successful team is having a bench where people can come on and make an impact,” Sermanni said. “And Jasmyne [Spencer] is one of them and I thought Christina Burkenroad was another one of those today. So, as a coach you want to be able to see two or three players who you think can come in and change the game for you.”
For Sermanni, multiple finishers gives him good options off the bench. It means that he can manipulate the team depending on the opponent and the conditions of each match. It’s good to spread the goals across more than one player, and the Pride will look to build on that as they move onto the match in Seattle next weekend and beyond.
