ORLANDO, Fla. (September 21, 2017) - Orlando Pride (10-6-6, 36 points) has another chance to book its ticket to the 2017 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) playoffs when it hosts Portland Thorns FC (13-5-4, 43 points) Saturday afternoon at Orlando City Stadium. The match, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET, will be the final regular season home game for the Pride with tickets available here or by calling (855) ORL-CITY.
Orlando currently holds the fourth and final playoff position, tied with the Chicago Red Stars at 36 points. The Pride can clinch the spot in the playoffs with a win on Saturday, or with a loss or draw by Seattle Reign FC (31 points) who hosts FC Kansas City on Sunday.
Should the Pride reach the postseason, Saturday’s match could also be a preview of the NWSL semifinal round as Portland has clinched both a spot in the playoff and a home semifinal match. The other semifinal game will be hosted by the North Carolina Courage.
“Apart from being a very good team, [Portland] are an experienced team and a very stable team when you look through their selection over the last two or three years. They have a very strong, dynamic and experienced midfield. That’s probably where they are the strongest and most dangerous,” Head Coach Tom Sermanni said. “Throughout the season we’ve been ready to go into games and prepared, [and this game is] the critical one. There always comes those critical times in season and this weekend is one.”
Orlando will be looking to take its first win over Thorns FC, having fallen to the 2013 Champions in each of the three previous meetings. The two sides met in both the 2015 and 2016 season openers, with Portland most recently beating the Pride 2-0 on April 15 at Providence Park behind goals from Nadia Nadim and Christine Sinclair.
Since the first meeting between the sides this year, the Pride offense has been bolstered by the addition of Marta and the return of Alex Morgan, neither of whom were available for the season opener.
The Pride are riding a seven-game unbeaten streak, coming off a 1-1 draw with Seattle on Sept. 7. The match, which was moved up two days due to Hurricane Irma, saved all heroics for the final minutes with Orlando’s Alex Morgan and Seattle’s Jessica Fishlock trading goals in second-half stoppage-time after over 90 minutes of scoreless action.
Over the seven-game span, the Pride have totaled 18 goals and allowed just six. Morgan leads the league in scoring rate, averaging a goal every 97.5 minutes and has totaled nine through 11 appearances, good for fourth-most in the league. Marta ranks second overall in the same category with 12 goals.
The Thorns defeated the Boston Breakers in their most recent match on Sept. 10, with Sinclair scoring the lone goal of the match - a 72nd-minute transition goal assisted by Hayley Raso.
Orlando concludes the regular season on Saturday, Sept. 30 when it travels to face top-seeded North Carolina Courage at WakeMed Soccer Park. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.
