Chicago’s Julie Ertz and Orlando’s Ashlyn Harris led their teams out during an earlier meeting between the two (photo by Don MacGregor).
Orlando, F.L- The Orlando Pride hosted the Chicago Red Stars for Week 22 of the NWSL and as a result have been officially eliminated from any opportunity to see the playoffs. The Red Stars remain in the playoff hunt, currently standing in fourth place.
After finding solid ground in the first half, Chicago built up a play to test Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris. In the 26th minute, forward Sam Kerr passed the ball through the Pride backline to midfielder Alyssa Mautz. Although Orlando head coach Tom Sermanni had his hand up in disagreement of the off sides call, Mautz was in the clear and took the shot against Harris, who made the save.
Kerr was hungry for a goal and in the 30th minute came up with a close shot. The ball was passed to Kerr, who was in the perfect position on the upper right, going one-on-one with Harris. Kerr went through with the shot, but was foiled by the foot of Harris as she slid across the ground.
Just before the half in the 45th minute, Kerr gained control of the ball from a pass and cut the ball past Pride defender Shelina Zadorsky to get her side the 1-0 lead.
The Red Stars profited off the domino effect and a few minutes later saw midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo extend their lead. Kerr passed the ball back to DiBernardo whose right-footed finish hit the back of the net to to give Chicago a 2-0 lead by the end of the first half.
Pride defender Ali Krieger came in clutch for Harris in the 52nd minute when Mautz took a shot from the far right of the field and Krieger cleared the ball from making its way past the goal line.
Kerr didn’t stop with her attempts and recorded ten shots in total. While Orlando defender Alanna Kennedy had possession of the ball, Kerr swooped in to take control. Her next several touches led to her 14th goal of the season.
Two of Orlando’s top players worked together in the 65th minute when Marta crossed the ball from the left corner of the field to center and forward Alex Morgan finished with a header to the back of the net making it 3-1.
Following the match, Pride Head Coach Tom Sermanni said:
“To be honest, I’m a little bit embarrassed by the performance tonight, if I’m being frank. Aspects of our game, fundamental aspects of our game that should be an automatic are not an automatic,”
The Pride will not participate in this year’s playoff games and have fallen to seventh place with 30 points. Harris had her work cut out for her and recorded six saves during this match.
“That’s the thing now, I’ve got to apologize to the fans. As a coach, I put a team out there that on paper looks high quality but has actually performed very poor,” Sermanni said. “That’s down to me. I apologize to them for how we’ve done, particularly tonight.”
The final season game for Orlando will be on September 8th against Sky Blue FC in New Jersey at 12:00 p.m. ET.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Sam Kerr (Assisted by Yuki Nagasato), 44’
CHI-Vanessa DiBernardo (Assisted by Sam Kerr), 45 + 1’
CHI-Sam Kerr, 59’
ORL-Alex Morgan (Assisted by Alex Morgan) , 65’
BOOKING SUMMARY:
ORL-Camila , yellow card, 42’
ORL-Shelina Zadorsky, yellow card, 79’
ORL-Monica, yellow card, 82’
ORLANDO PRIDE: #24-Ashlyn Harris, #16-Carson Pickett, #4-Shelina Zadorsky, #11-Ali Krieger, #12-Kristen Edmonds, , #9-Camila, #14-Alanna Kennedy, #17-Dani Weatherholt, #6-Chioma Ubogagu, #13-Alex Morgan, #10-Marta Vieria Da Silva
CHICAGO RED STARS: #1-Alyssa Naeher, ##6-Casey Short, #8-Julie Ertz, #5-Kathleen Naughton, #3-Arin Gilliland, #10-Vanessa DiBernardo, #13-Morgan Brian, #24-Danielle Colaprico, #4-Alyssa Mautz, #12-Yuki Nagasato, #20-Sam Kerr
TOTAL SHOTS: ORL 12-17 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: ORL 6-9 CHI
FOULS: ORL 11-10 CHI
OFFSIDES: ORL 4-6 CHI
CORNER KICKS: ORL 3-6 CHI
SAVES: ORL 6-5 CHI
Chicago Red Stars
