Orlando Pride Fall 1-0 to Gotham FC in NWSL Challenge Cup

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – The Orlando Pride faced a strong defense from Gotham FC at Exploria Stadium Wednesday night.

The Pride, with three draws and two losses for one point in the NWSL Challenge Cup, went into Wednesday’s match at #2 in the tournament under North Carolina Courage. Gotham FC entered at #4 with no points (two wins and three losses).

First Half

Orlando proved more aggressive in the first half, despite the 0-0 halftime score. Even with only 38 percent possession compared to Gotham’s 62 percent, Orlando made nine shots to Gotham’s two. Sydney Leroux led the team in shots, attempting five of the nine. Taylor Kornieck made two attempts, while Marisa Viggiano and Courtney Petersen each made one.

For Gotham, Nahomi Kawasumi attempted a shot on goal in the 12th minute and Jennifer Cudjoe missed her free kick shot in the 20th minute.

GFC’s Erica Skroski received a yellow card for a bad foul in the 24th minute.

In the first minute of stoppage time, Orlando’s Sydney Leroux attempted a drive to the goal, but was flanked and blocked, sending the ball in midair.

Second Half

In the second half Gotham’s Cudjoe came close to a successful goal, kicking high in the 69th minute, but the ball went just above the crossbar.

In the 67th minute, Gotham subbed in Dominique Richardson and Elizabeth Eddy for Lee So-Dam and Nicole Baxter, respectively.

The Pride made their first substitution in the 73rd minute, switching out Courtney Petersen for Erika Tymrak.

Gotham made another two subs. In the 77th minute Taylor Aylmer came on for Nahomi Kawasumi and in the 78th minute Sabrina Flores came on for Imani Dorsey.

Gotham got on the board in the 79th minute with Paige Monaghan’s right foot close range shot from Ifeoma Onumonu. While goalie Ashlyn Harris moved to block it, the ball slipped out of her grip and into the box, making the score 1-0.

Konya Plummer was issued a yellow card in the 82nd minute for a bad foul. In the 84th, Orlando subbed in Abigail Kim for Marisa Viggiano.

Despite Orlando’s sincerest efforts, Gotham’s defense remained stingy, and even with four minutes of stoppage time at the end of the match, the Pride remained scoreless, making the final score 1-0 for Gotham.

“Extremely frustrating result,” said Orlando Pride head coach Marc Skinner postgame. “If you don’t take the opportunity to score, there is always an opportunity for the opposition to force an error or to force a focus mistake and obviously they got an opportunity at the end and finished it well.”

Skinner did find a silver lining nonetheless. “It’s important that we took a step forward in terms of we were better in much more parts of our game. The press was better at times and it was a progression in the right step for a team that’s relatively new at playing together.”

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Mellissa Thomas is Editor for Florida National News. | mellissa.thomas@floridanationalnews.com