This weekend, the Orlando Pride will travel to New Jersey to face Sky Blue FC. The New Jersey side has proven to be a strong attacking team so far this season. One of the leaders of that attack is Australian midfielder Samantha Kerr.
“I think Kerr is the key. She’s the key person, and it’s just a question of our center backs making sure that they are really focused and disciplined in their defending job of Sam, making sure she doesn’t run in behind them, to make sure that when she gets the ball we’ve got players around pressuring her to make sure she isn’t running at us, dribbling at us,” Head Coach Tom Sermanni said. “She’s really their key attacking player, so she’s the main one we need to shut down.”
Thankfully, the Pride defense has some experience dealing with Kerr.
Kerr plays on the Australian National Team alongside Pride defenders Steph Catley, Laura Alleway, and Alanna Kennedy. Kerr has one goal and one assist on the season and uses her skills to create goal-scoring opportunities, even if she isn’t always the one to tap it into the net.
“Obviously, Sam is a great player. I actually enjoy playing against her, it’s always a great challenge. But she’s hard to contain,” Kennedy said. “Both Steph [Catley] and I know her well, and Ali [Krieger] has come up against her in the national team environments. They’ll be hard to contain, but each week we’re getting better at the back. Not just the back four, but as a defensive team altogether. Hopefully we can shut that down.”
The Pride are still looking for their first shutout of the year, but they have found their rhythm in the past few weeks. The defense faced two of the best offenses in the league and held each of them to only one goal. That’s a pretty impressive feat, especially considering Seattle has scored fifteen goals in six games.
Sky Blue has scored 10 goals in their seven matches. They were held scoreless in their midweek loss to North Carolina Courage. This weekend, the Pride defense will look to continue that trend.
