Fresh off a road trip, the team had lost three games in a row before tonight’s match. This win brings the Pride into 5th position in the NWSL with 15 points on the season.
The game started rough for the Pride, with Houston keeping possession of the ball for the most part. Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris performance on the night earned her the Player of the Match Award, a much-deserved accolade on the evening. The Dash challenged Harris early on as she came up with two first-half saves after three shots went wide of the net. She added three spectacular saves in the 2nd half as well on her way to her 3rd shutout of the season.
The rest of the first half was equally played by both teams, but the Pride needed to win this match to recover for their losing streak. Moreover, to this point, the Pride had gone without scoring a goal in over 320 minutes. In fact, they had not scored a goal since May 20th when they last played Houston on the road.
The second half was imperative for the Pride. Orlando head coach Tom Sermanni made the introduction of Jasmyne Spencer in the 60th minute, which changed the dynamic of the game completely. The Pride started pushing their attacking more and garnered several shots from their efforts. Dash defender Poliana cost her team momentum in the match due to a reckless foul that had her shown the first yellow card of the game.
With the momentum highly in the Prides’ favor, Sermanni made another sub calling upon Sarah Hagen in the 81st minute.
The decision proved vital to the match as we went into stoppage time. In the 92nd minute, Alex Morgan made a run up the left side, with her teammates following suit in the box. Morgan centered the ball to Jamia Fields, who was being pressured and touch passed it to Hagen 6 feet to her right, whom then sent a perfect chip pass to Jasmyne Spencer who found contact with her right foot in midair. The ball went untouched into the back left of the net as Dash keeper Lydia Williams stood in place stunned and unable to make a save attempt.
After the game, Orlando Pride’s Coach Tom Sermanni spoke about Jasmynes performance, “It was great to see Jasmyne making this goal…She has worked very hard this season, and I am just very happy for her”.
Spencer talked about her performance on the game tonight addressed That tonight’s goal was important “It doesn’t matter if it was on the 1st Minute on the 90th minute we needed that goal” continuing to talk about her humbleness.
The Pride now have a quick turnaround as they face the Portland Thorns on Sunday, June 26th back at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
