Leroux Rockets Orlando Pride into History Against Racing Louisville

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – No amount of Saturday night’s rain could quench Orlando Pride forward Sydney Leroux’s fire against Racing Louisville FC. The Pride came into the game on the heels of a club milestone: they were just one goal away from reaching the 150-goal mark across all NWSL competitions. Forwards Leroux (38) and Alex Morgan (37) began the game only two and three goals away respectively from scoring 40 goals across all NWSL Competitions.

First Half

The first half began in Racing Louisville’s favor. Their pressure and aggression made Orlando look slow and scoreless…at first.

After a hard crash into Orlando’s Phoebe McClernon, Racing Louisville’s Nadia Nadim was escorted off the field on a stretcher. Yuki Nagasato subbed in for her in the 17th minute.

The Pride–and Sydney Leroux specifically–came alive in the latter part of the first half. Leroux got Orlando Pride on the board first with a goal in the 31st minute despite being triple-teamed with a sharp left shot to the bottom corner. The shot answered her previous goal attempt, which Louisville goalkeeper Michelle Betos saved. Leroux wasted no time jumping on the rebound and getting it in.

Marta scored Orlando’s second goal in the 34th minute off of Leroux’s right cross. It didn’t count as an official assist only because it bounced off of Louisville’s Nealy Martin’s leg, but Marta found the ball fired it into the right corner, widening the lead to 2-0.

Second Half

While Orlando rose to show dominance late in the first half, Louisville FC answered early in the second half with a goal in the 51st minute. Yuki Nagasato’s shot attempt got some help with an extra tap into the goal box from CeCe Kizer.

Orlando’s audience roared as Alex Morgan entered the field in the 60th minute, subbing in for Phoebe McClernon. Courtney Petersen also subbed in for Meggie Dougherty-Howard.

Leroux made a way for Orlando again in the 65th minute. She fired the ball to Alex Morgan, who just returned to club play tonight, and Morgan sent it into the right corner off her left foot, increasing the lead to 3-1.

Both teams made other subs, but Racing Louisville had no answer for the remainder of the game, despite five minutes of added time.

Orlando Pride Interim Head Coach Becky Burleigh praised the Pride’s effort during the postgame press conference.

“A great way to get into a little time off for us. I thought some of the goals were really great efforts. To have Alex [Morgan] score in her return, that’s amazing. Syd[ney Leroux] really, really battled on the goal that she scored. To give Parker [Roberts] her debut and just to have a full team effort again, I think this team continues to show their resilience. We gave up a goal, but didn’t panic and were able to continue to apply the pressure and get a third.”

Thanks to Leroux’s tenacity, with Marta and Morgan finishing, the club is now at 152 goals and three points on the night. She’s now only one goal and Morgan only two away from 40 goals with the Orlando Pride. Another record set Saturday night: the Pride’s three goals were the most the team has scored in a match at Exploria Stadium this season. 

Mellissa Thomas is Editor for Florida National News, part of the FNN News Network.