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ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Pride returned home to Exploria Stadium Sunday night to beat the Chicago Red Stars 5-0.
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The Pride have been on a 10-day break since their last Challenge Cup match verse NY/NJ Gotham on Aug. 9 and have not played a regular NWSL game since July 7.
Sunday night’s game saw the Pride’s four international players return from World Cup duty.
Brazilians Marta, Adriana, and recent signing Rafaelle were all in the starting lineup, while Argentine international Mariana Larroquette started the evening on the bench.
Rafaelle would not only get her first start but would also start the scoring for the Pride.
In the 15-minute, Rafaelle was on the back post and headed a corner kick by Adriana across the goal, off the hands of a diving Alyssa Naeher, off the post, and into the goal, putting the Pride up 1-0.
Then it would be the two rookies linking up in the 24-minute when Julie Doyle found Messiah Bright up the left side.
Bright was one-on-one with the Chicago defender and took a strike from the top of the box, curling it around the goalkeeper and giving the Pride a 2-0 lead going into halftime.
Bright was not done, in the second-half Marta used the outside of her foot to send a pass around a Chicago Red Star defender and into the path of Bright.
Red Star goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was caught at the top of the box and Bright was able to dribble around Naeher and from a tough angle, sent the ball into the back of the open goal for a brace and a 3-0 lead.
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In the 60-minute Pride Coach Seb Hines made three subs, bringing in Jordyn Listro, Mikayla Cluff, and Mariana Larroquette.
Larroquette and Cluff would make their mark on the game after four minutes.
In the 64-minute, Cluff found Larroquette on the left side of the box. Larroquette shifted the ball onto her right foot and around a Red Star defender to take a shot that found the inside of the net and increased the lead to 4-0.
After the fast assist, Cluff would get her opportunity to score a goal in the 68-minute.
Adriana had the ball in the Red Star’s box and sent the ball back towards the penalty spot to find a Cluff, in stride, who slotted the ball past the Chicago goalkeeper and into the bottom left corner of the goal.
The five goals on the night is a club record and moved the Pride into 7th place in the NWSL standings and currently one spot out of the playoffs behind the Pride’s next opponent, the San Diego Wave FC.
San Diego and former Pride players Alex Morgan, Megan Dougherty Howard, and Rachel Hill will return to Exploria Stadium on Friday, Aug. 25.
The Pride has six more regular season games to try and make the playoffs. Three of the teams are ahead of them in the NWSL standings and the team cannot afford to drop any points if they want to secure the last playoff spot.
Next Game:
Who: San Diego Wave FC
When: Friday, August 25, 7 p.m.
Where: Exploria Stadium
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