The WNY Flash and Orlando Pride meet for the first time Saturday at 7:30pm ET at Camping World Stadium. It should be an interesting match up between the teams as a total of five players from the 2015 Flash have joined the Pride this season and will be facing their former club for the first time.
The Flash are coming off a road win against Sky Blue, where they finally managed to score from the run of play. Sam Mewis scored after Jess McDonald and Caroline Stanley collided on a long ball that left Stanley on the ground and the ball sitting in the box. The goal gave the Flash the lead and ultimately the win. Jaelene Hinkle scored from the spot earlier in the half.
Despite the win, the Flash continued to struggle in various aspects of their game. The first half saw the defense allow players to sneak in past the back line, which could be troublesome against speedy players like Jasmyne Spencer and Alex Morgan. The defense tightened up in the second half against Sky Blue, and if they can put in a solid performance from the start, should be able to better handle Orlando’s attack.
Another area that the Flash have struggled in is finishing. Paul Riley mentioned last week that the team really needed to work on scoring from the front and getting the young players up top focused and confident in their abilities. The Flash have had plenty of opportunities in front of the goal this season, but have struggled putting the ball away. The team was without one of their more speedy and dangerous offensive threats last week as Lynn Williams was away for personal reasons, but was expected back early in the week and should be ready to go against Orlando.
Jeon Ga-Eul made her much anticipated NWSL debut last week against Sky Blue but is listed as doubtful on this week’s injury report with a right achilles strain.
Orlando remains undefeated at home after pulling off what some may consider a bit of a surprising 2-0 victory against Seattle last weekend. The Pride put out a strong performance on both sides of the ball to earn their second home win. Sarah Hagen scored her first goal of the season in the 12th minute after Alex Morgan chased down a ball that looked to be heading out of play and then sent an excellent cross toward the back post. Lianne Sanderson added to the lead late in the game after she buried the rebound from an Alex Morgan shot that had Hope Solo on the ground and out of position.
Defensively, the Pride put in an excellent performance. Tom Sermanni kept his solid back line the same, but changed the formation into a 4-4-2 to try to better contain Seattle and it proved to be extremely effective. Seattle did not record a shot on goal until after the 80th minute. Samantha Witteman made her first start for the Pride and put in an excellent performance on both sides of the ball. She did well to stop the progress of Seattle’s attack on several occasions and had moments moving forward where seemed to blow right by the Seattle defense. The strong defensive performance by the Pride was capped off by yet another excellent save by Ashlyn Harris, who denied Beverly Yanez a great scoring opportunity.
An injury note for the Pride, they will be without defender Cami Levin who made her first appearance for the team against Seattle. Levin underwent a successful appendectomy earlier in the week and has been placed on the 45 day disabled list.
While the Pride seem to have the advantage as far as personnel and experience go, on paper, both teams are quite similar. Both teams have a 2-2 record (though the Pride have the advantage on goal differential), both teams have players who are tied for second in the league for shots on goals (Sam Mewis and Alex Morgan with seven), and both teams have goalkeepers who are tied for first in the league for saves (Sabrina D’Angelo and Ashlyn Harris among three others, with 15). The Pride have really shone at home, while the Flash are riding the momentum of a successful first leg of a two game road trip. The difference in the match will likely be the consistency of the Flash defense and their finishing. If there are lapses in both as seen in recent weeks, the speedy Pride offense and solid defense could put a damper on things for the Flash. If they can find the back of the net with their high pressing offensive and keep Morgan and Spencer from sneaking behind the defense, they have a shot at earning more points on the road and perhaps even handing Orlando their first home loss.
