Win at Home
The Pride had their first win at home this past week with their 1-0 shutout against the Houston Dash. In the 79th minute, Carrie Lawrence sent the ball into the box following a clearance from Houston. Kylie Strom headed the ball off a defender and past the Dash goalkeeper into the back of the net. Erin McLeod locked up the defensive side with two saves leading to the win and the Pride’s second clean sheet of the regular season.
First Win
This past week’s match marked not only the first win at home for the Pride but also the first win for acting head coach Seb Hines. Following his time with Orlando City during their inaugural season in 2015, Hines joined the Pride coaching staff as a volunteer coach in 2018, officially coming aboard full time in 2020.
Strom Storming the Net
This past week, Kylie Strom headed a ball off of Houston defender Ally Priscock, leading to the lone goal of the game. In the Pride’s previous match against Racing Louisville, Strom scored her first goal with the Club, with the defender having a hand in two goals in as many matches throughout the last couple weeks.
Better Late Than Never
In the Pride’s first regular season matchup against the Spirit, they scored two second-half stoppage time goals to come back and split the points in a 1-1 draw. Mikayla Cluff found the back of the net in the 95th minute while Darian Jenkins scored the leveler in the 98th minute. The Jenkins goal served as the latest goal in NWSL regular season history ever recorded.
Orlando Deja Vu
This past week both the Pride and Orlando City had a 1-0 victory at Exploria Stadium. Both the goals were own goals, and both were scored late in the game. The Pride gained their lead in the 79th minute while the City went ahead in second half added time. With two big wins this past week, both teams are set to play on Sunday, July 17. With Orlando City kicking off at 3 p.m. in Atlanta, the Club is also hosting a Watch Party for the back-to-back matches at Wall Street Plaza in downtown Orlando.
2022 Nationwide Community Impact Program
The Orlando Pride have chosen to represent and partner with Special Olympics Florida as part of the NWSL’s 2022 Nationwide Community Impact Program. The 2022 Nationwide Community Impact Program is a season-long, civically-focused initiative promoting community partners and advancing local service projects chosen and led by each NWSL team. Pride midfielder Gunny Jónsdóttir is serving as the team’s ambassador as the Club looks to win $25,000 for the local non-profit.
International Affairs
Both teams will see players unavailable due to international duty, with the Spirit facing a much longer list than the Pride. For Orlando, only midfielder Gunny Jónsdóttir remains on international duty, currently competing in the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Euro Championships with Iceland. On the Spirit side, seven are out all with the USWNT at the Concacaf W Championship: Ashley Hatch, Aubrey Kingsbury, Kelley O’Hara, Trinity Rodman, Ashley Sanchez, Emily Sonnett and Andi Sullivan.
Milestone Tracker
- This past week’s shutout marked the 10th for Erin McLeod in her NWSL regular-season career.
- Megan Montefusco earned her 150th appearance across all NWSL competitions
- Erika Tymrak is two appearances away from 160 appearances across all NWSL competitions.
- Meggie Dougherty Howard is seven appearances away from 100 across NWSL regular season competitions.
