Week 16 in the National Women's Soccer League saw the Orlando Pride welcome the Washington Spirit to the Citrus Bowl on Friday night. Although they were in front of their home fans, many expected the Spirit to take all three points and they duly obliged with a 2-1 win over their hosts.
Both teams saw the return of many international players but it was the non-national team members of both teams that provided the spark from start to finish. The Spirit found their feet quickest in this match and it proved to be the difference on the night.
A fast but scrappy start by the Spirit
From the first whistle, Washington poured forward, hoping to get an early goal to silence the home ground and allow them to play the game the way they wanted it to be played, at their own tempo. An early corner had to be cleared by Toni Pressley before the Spirit's Joanna Lohman could get her head onto it. The second corner was sent away by the Pride defenders but it did not alleviate the pressure and the Spirit continued to build up play and try to find their great front line which tonight included, Crystal Dunn, Cali Farquharson and Cheyna Williams. It was actually Williams who was the main threat for the Spirit on the right hand side as time and time again she got forward and beat her marker and sent the ball into the box for one of her teammates to latch on to.
Orlando tried to weather the storm and did get forward on occasion but they could not create any clear cut chances for star striker Alex Morgan to get onto. In fact, Orlando's best chances were due to goalkeeping errors by the Spirit's Kelsey Wys. In the 14th minute, Ws came out to catch a Pressley free-kick but she completely missed the ball and it fell to a waiting Morgan. Unfortunately for Orlando, Morgan was unable to collect the ball and turn to take a shot on target.
Almost ten minutes later, a misguided pass by Wys found the feet of Jasmyne Spencer who tried to play in Morgan but the Spirit back line recovered well and stopped the attack quickly. Wys did redeem herself with a good save from a Morgan header in the 25th minute to keep the score at nil-nil.
Williams play gets the goal it deserved
As previously mentioned, Cheyna Williams was a constant thorn for Orlando's defenders. None of them could deal with her pace and the forward was putting herself in good positions on the right hand side to combine with Dunn or put herself in a good position to make an effort on goal. Her persistence finally paid off late in the first half.
Washington's left back Caprice Dydasco got forward in the 36th minute and tried to put a cross into the box. The ball broke to Williams who was unmarked in the box and she proceeded to nutmeg Kaylyn Kyle before powering home the first goal of the match. Orlando goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris could only watch as the fierce shot went right by her and into the goal and the Spirit headed into the locker rooms at half time with a lead they fully deserved.
Washington capitalize on Orlando's push for goals
The Pride had no choice but to come out in the second half and push for an equalizer and it was their turn to apply some early pressure. Washington held firm though and decided to sit back a little and try and catch Orlando on their break using the speed of Dunn and Williams. That tactic worked when in the 55th minute, Williams broke forward before finding substitute Katie Stengel in the box. Stengel held onto the ball, looked up and saw an unmarked Christine Nairn make a late run from midfield into the box. Nairn was played through and she coolly slotted the ball past Harris to give the Spirit a two goal advantage.
That second goal did make the Spirit take their foot off the gas a little and allowed Orlando to gain a bigger foothold in the match. A few minutes after Nairn's goal, Samantha Witteman put in a cross which was met by Morgan but she could not keep her effort down and her header went over the crossbar. The Spirit were not done and only a good block by Harris prevented Stengel from grabbing a goal of her own.
Substitutes play their part
Both teams had made two substitutions by the time the match hit the 70th minute mark and those substitutions seemed to be the right ones. For Orlando, substitute Sarah Hagen made an almost instant impact as she sped through into the box and latched onto a great cross by Camille Levin to put the Pride within one goal of tying the game in the 71st minute. Hagen was a constant threat from the time she came on and could not make the most of her positioning due to her teammates inability to provide her with the right pass.
For the visitors, substitute Fransisca Ordega's pace and power was still catching Orlando out on the counter as the Pride pushed for a second goal. Two minutes after Hagen's goal, the Spirit broke through Ordega and she was able to get into the box before firing an effort at Harris who made a great diving save to stop the goal. The ball found Stengel who had been following the play and Harris was called on again to make another fantastic save to keep Orlando from going 3-1 down.
As the game hit the 79th minute mark, Washington were exploiting the spaces left by Orlando at the back and Nairn was in the thick of things at each moment. The midfielder passed the ball through to Williams who had plenty of space to take the ball past a clearly tired Pressley before sending her effort into the side netting. Harris had come out to close down the angle which made it harder for Williams to put her shot on target.
That was probably the last clear cut opportunity of the game even though Orlando kept sending players and balls forward. The Spirit's back four were immense tonight and continued to put their bodies on the line to prevent any shots from finding their way to Wys late in the game. Their positioning was also very well executed and they prevented Orlando from creating any real opportunities at every chance.
Orlando's playoff chances are slipping away
The loss leaves the Pride further away from the last playoff spot with the teams above them still in the playoff race set to play on Saturday and Sunday. Even if the teams above them drop points, Orlando will still find themselves in seventh and at least seven points away from fourth in the table. Their window of fighting for a post season berth is closing quickly and with four games to go, they will need to win out and hope the teams above them lose their games if they are to have any chance of making the playoffs.
Washington, on the other hand, keep a firm grip on first and home field advantage in the post season. Their consistency has continued to stay the course and they can probably count on themselves to finish as the regular season champions barring any unexpected twists in their last four matches before the playoffs begin.