Pride improve to 11-0-5 in all competitions at Inter&Co Stadium
By Official Florida FC
The NWSL Shield winners produced an emphatic statement about how they won the trophy this season with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars in downtown Orlando on Friday night.
Barbara Banda struck twice in the first half to lift the Pride to its first NWSL playoff victory in club history. Banda was a menace from kickoff. Her first was 15 inches away from finding the far corner in the first 15 seconds of the match.
Banda was irrepressible on Friday night. In the first 10 minutes after halftime, another effort hit the near post and she drew a penalty kick.
Marta emphatically converted the penalty kick to give the Pride a four-goal lead, despite Banda being on a hat trick.
“I always say that not all days are numbers,” Banda told reporters after the match. “I might miss and have games without scoring, but whenever I have an opportunity and a chance I have to utilize it wisely and it was my day today and it all started from training. We had great trainings and we’ve prepared for this playoff so well.”
Most of the 11,496 who filed into Inter&Co. Stadium left happy. Perhaps the only disappointment from the purple-clad people was that Pride keeper Anna Moorhouse could not keep another clean sheet.
Jameese Joseph scored a consolation for Chicago at the hour mark after a miscue from the Pride keeper.
“Yeah, we always talk about setting a tone early,” said Orlando Pride head coach Seb Hines. “And so, you know, having that, that fear factor when, when a team comes to our environment, and, you know, we always want to make it difficult for them, so that first 5-10 minutes is really important to set a tone.
“You could hear the crowd as well. You know, they were brilliant tonight, you know, really pushing the players from start to finish,” Hines continued. “And so, yeah, we wanted to make it difficult for Chicago [Red Stars]. We wanted to start the game quickly. And I was really pleased that we managed to get, you know, a couple of goals in the first half.”
Orlando is 11-0-5 in all competitions at home this season. The Pride will have at least one more match at Inter&Co. Stadium in the NWSL semifinals.
Orlando will play either the Kansas City Current or North Carolina Courage next weekend. Orlando throttled North Carolina 4-1 in Central Florida back in May. The Pride drew with the Current at home in September, but beat Kansas City 2-1 in Missouri in July.
