This weekend, the Orlando Pride will travel to Providence Park to face off against the Portland Thorns for their NWSL season opener. As the women get ready to travel, their focus is on themselves. They aren’t too caught up in their opponent.
“There’s a lot of excitement from us going into this game, it being our first game of the season,” Kristen Edmonds said. “So, we’re looking to just kind of channel that excitement into the game itself and come out firing on all cylinders and hoping to get points away from this game.”
“We know Portland’s a good team. So, that aside, we’ve tried to focus on ourselves,” Alanna Kennedy said. “We’ve prepared a lot for their possession-based game that they play and I feel that we are very prepared. We’ve set ourselves up for a good game.”
The Pride opened their inaugural season against Portland last year. The game was a historic match for the team, and might feel a bit like deja vu for some of the veterans. But they aren’t the new kids on the block anymore and they’ll carry a lot more confidence this time they enter Providence Park.
“I think it’s really different,” Steph Catley said. “Last season there was a lot of hype because we were new in the league and I think being new in the league, you don’t really have a lot of depth as a team. We had a lot of really young players and this year our rookies have a year under their belts, I think the players we’ve recruited internationally have a lot of experience as well and I just feel a lot more confident and comfortable coming into this game against Portland this year.”
Having strong competition right away is not necessarily a bad thing for the Pride. It will help the team focus and put in the work from the very beginning. There aren’t any easy victories in this league, but taking on a team that reached the playoffs last year can work to the Pride’s advantage.
“Obviously if you want to be the best you have to beat the best,” Ali Krieger said. “And I feel like we have such a great team this and we’re more focused on ourselves. I mean, obviously I want to play against the best players in the world, I think we all do because that’s what it’s all about. And I think playing some of the best teams in the very beginning is good for us. Most teams need a few games to kind of get in the groove obviously so it’ll be very exciting to see where we’re all at, but I think having a good opponent in the very beginning is really good for us, is really healthy, cause we all wanna just get after it right away. So, we’re very excited, we’re focusing more on ourselves rather than anyone else and then we’re gonna see what the game gives us, what the opponent gives us, and then obviously figure out during the game. But we’re all very prepared, Tom [Sermanni] has prepared us very well for this match, and it doesn’t really matter who is on the opposite side of the field. We’re gonna still do everything we’re gonna do and stay focused and win and be successful.”
The Pride will face off against the Portland Thorns on Saturday, April 15th at 3:00pm in Providence Park. The match will be the first to air on Lifetime.
