The WNY Flash fell 1-0 to the Orlando Pride Saturday night in what was a much closer match than most people anticipated.
The match started out slow, as neither team was able to maintain possession. Both sides struggled to really build any kind of offense in what appeared to be a combination of bad passing and good defending in the midfield. The teams eventually settled into the game and the result was an entertaining, sometimes frustrating, solid match overall.
One of the concerns coming into this match for the Flash was the speed of players like Jasmyne Spencer and Alex Morgan. The Flash have struggled in recent weeks with opponents slipping past the back line and creating dangerous scoring chances and that is exactly what Orlando did early in the match. Spencer beat Elizabeth Eddy down the left side on several occasions and Sam Witteman was equally problematic on the right at times. Though both set up quality chances, the Pride were not able to find the back of the net.
Despite the early weak spots, the Flash defense actually had one of strongest matches of the season. They were able to adjust to the speed of Morgan and Spencer and force the Pride to attack more from distance where their efforts either missed the mark or were easily saved by Sabrina D’Angelo. D’Angelo had another strong outing for the Flash, at one point making an excellent reaction save on a quick shot from Sarah Hagen.
On the other side of the ball, the Flash’s high pressure offense did what Seattle was unable to do the previous week and penetrated the Pride’s strong 4-4-2 formation. Sam Mewis was bright spot for the Flash in the first half, causing problems in the midfield and final third for the Pride. Whether she was distributing to her teammates or charging toward the goal herself, Mewis was a focal point in the Flash attack.
Also a focal point for the Flash? Poor finishing. A concern for the team all season, the inability to put the ball into the net was especially costly during this match. The Flash missed a gimme goal in the 26th minute when Mewis received a long ball, shook off her defender and charged towards goal. Ashlyn Harris went down anticipating a shot from Mewis who crossed it over to Lynn Williams instead. Williams had a wide open shot on an empty net, but bounced it off the crossbar instead. While that may have been the most glaring example of the lack of finishing by the Flash, there were several other promising opportunities that the team could not capitalize on throughout the match.
Momentum seemed to shift in the Pride’s direction in the second half. While the Flash defense continued to put in a strong performance, the offense was much quieter. While they still had opportunities, they were fewer and farther in between than in the first half as the Pride appeared to adjust to their high pressuring style of play.
The Pride’s offense, however, stepped it up a notch and the introduction of Lianne Sanderson was a huge catalyst for that change. Sanderson has been solid off the bench this season and was involved in nearly every Pride attack upon entering the game. Sanderson consistently won balls, and did well to maintain possession and set up her teammates, something that was a challenge for the Flash most of the second half.
While the Flash did well to contain the speed of Morgan for the majority of the match, she finally got the best of them in the 79th minute. Sanderson won the ball in the air and passed it to Kristen Edmonds who immediately sent a long ball to Morgan who had slipped between both central defenders and was racing towards goal. As the Flash defenders gave chase, Morgan saw D’Angelo far off her line and chipped the ball over her head and into the back of the net, giving the Pride a 1-0 lead.
Things got worse for the Flash toward the end of the match as captain Abby Erceg was sent off in the 89th minute. Erceg and Sanderson collided mid air going for a ball and Erceg was initially given a yellow card for what some would say was a questionable foul for going over the back of Sanderson. It’s hard to see if there really was a foul, but the card came out regardless. Erceg had received a card in the 50th minute for impeding a goal kick.
Poor finishing aside, this was one of the strongest and most complete performance the Flash have had all season, and definitely the toughest home match the Pride have seen. While certain aspects of the Flash’s game have improved greatly, the ability to finish and score goals is imperative to a successful NWSL campaign. Not to take anything away from the Pride, but the game could have easily ended in a draw, or perhaps opposite result had the Flash put away some of their more solid chances.
The Flash return home to face Sky Blue FC on Saturday May 21, 2016 at 7pm ET while the Pride travel to Houston to take on the Dash, Friday May 20, 2016 at 8:30pm ET.
