ORLANDO, Fla. (May 5, 2017) – Orlando Pride (0-2-1, 1 point) begins the month of May on the road, concluding a two-game road trip on Sunday evening at FC Kansas City (1-2-0, 3 points).
Sunday’s match kicks off at 6 p.m. ET and can be streamed live at go90.com or on the go90 app. Live updates can be followed on the Pride twitter account, @ORLPride.
“Kansas is a team that has had an unfortunate start of the season with some injuries, but they are still a team that possesses some threats both on the attack and on the defensive end,” Head Coach Tom Sermanni said. “But we’re entering this game focused on our play and making sure we get the things right that were missing last week. We’ve had a good week of training and I think if we take care of the things we need to, we’ll have a positive result come Sunday.”
The Pride head into the match after a 3-1 loss to the North Carolina Courage, the defending NWSL Champion, last weekend. The Courage opened the scoring in the sixth minute on a goal from Jessica MacDonald, but Orlando midfielder Camila scored on a curling shot in the 27th minute to level the game at 1-1. Camila’s goal would go on to be named the NWSL Goal of the Week.
However, a handball in the box gave North Carolina a penalty kick opportunity and Samantha Mewis scored what would go on to be the game-winner from the spot in the 33rd minute. Lynn Williams added an insurance goal in the second half.
Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris made a career-high 10 saves in the match, while Marta nearly scored her first goal in purple but saw it cleared off the line at the last second.
Marta, who made her first appearance two weeks ago against the Washington Spirit, leads the Pride with eight chances created in her 130 minutes.
FC Kansas City entered the season with a fresh look, seeing the return of Amy Rodriguez and the debut of Sydney Leroux, who both missed last season due to maternity leave, and picked up their first win of the season in their opening game. However, after both scored in the win, Rodriguez suffered an ACL injury and was ruled out for the remainder of the 2017 season.
In their last match, the Blues dropped a 1-0 decision at Sky Blue FC. Sky Blue’s Raquel Rodriguez scored the difference maker late in the match.
Kansas City holds the all-time series record with the Pride, winning both matches during Orlando’s inaugural campaign last year.
