On Saturday night at Sahlen’s Stadium in Cary, NC, the NC Courage will host the Orlando Pride for the second time this season. This meeting will be the teams third and final of the season, the last meeting between the two was back on June 1 when the Courage claimed the victory, 3-0. With the race between the top four teams in the league so extremely close this match could be a huge boost for the Courage or a chance for the Pride to end the Courage’s three game win streak. 

The Courage are coming off of a historic win on Wednesday night where they traveled to Portland and blanked the Thorns, 6-0. In that game, Lynn Williams led the team with a hat-trick for only just the second time in her career. The team also had goals from Kristen Hamilton, Crystal Dunn and Debinha. Frankly the Courage looked unbeatable, the team will look to continue that momentum on Saturday. 

The Pride are coming off of a heartbreak loss to Chicago on Wednesday.  For 90 minutes the Pride played arguably their best game all season, Ashlyn Harris looked phenomenal in goal but the team still fell short. Chicago was able to secure the victory in stoppage time.

Courage make a push for the playoffs

The Courage took a big step in going towards the playoffs with the win on Wednesday. It seems that the team has found their goalscoring form going into the last four games of the season. The Courage are just seven points away from securing a playoff berth with five games left to go. The game tomorrow will be the teams third in eight days with a game still to go Tuesday. With such a heavy load of games to go in a short time span one could look for a few lineup changes when the team hits the field tomorrow. 

Pride look to bounce back

The Pride fought hard in its last game against the Red Stars but still fell short. The team has relied heavily on their defense especially recently with their star attacking players hurt. Ashlyn Harris will be a huge factor in the game for the Pride. Claire Emslie, the Scottish product, has looked good for the Pride and has been a boost for them in the attacking half.  Emslie could have a big impact in helping to put the ball in the back of the net against the Courage and leading the team to the upset.

How to Watch

The game will kick off at 7 p.m E.T. at Sahlen’s Stadium in Cary, NC. The game can be watched on Yahoo! Sports online or on any device able to get the app.