Orlando Pride: High expectations

With an 8-0 win in their inaugural preseason match, fans can expect great things from the newest team in the NWSL

It was pretty much a storybook start in the first ever preseason match for the National Women’s Soccer League’s newest club. Bad weather wasn’t going to stop NWSL faithfuls in Florida on Saturday; Titan Soccer Complex filled up on and the Orlando Pride recorded eight goals in their first preseason win in front of a sold out crowd.

Fans couldn’t have written it any more perfect as United States Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan set the momentum and scored the first ever Orlando Pride goal in just the fourth minute of the friendly against 2015 NJCAA National Runner-Up Eastern Florida State College. Morgan’s fitting goal came from a penalty kick where she very nonchalantly put the ball into the left side of the net.

Morgan, unsurprisingly so, was the start of the match after she went on to score three more for the Pride. Her second goal came in the 11^th minute when the forward used her unmatched speed to catch up to a Sarah Hagen header that she backheeled into the net just passed the Titan goalkeeper.

Despite being placed as a defender in her first two seasons in the NWSL for the Western New York Flash, Kristen Edmonds made her mark scoring two goals in two minutes. In the 17^th minute, Morgan assisted with just a touch and Edmonds didn’t have to think twice before firing the ball passed the keeper and right into the net. Much like her first goal, Edmonds got her foot on a loose ball and netted the fourth goal for the Pride in the 19^th minute.

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Before the half could even close, center defender Monica Hickman Alves was able to add her name to the history of Orlando Pride as she scored the fifth goal of the match off of a header in the 25^th minute. Not too long after, Morgan would add two more goals before the halftime whistle blew allowing the Pride to go into the half ahead 7-0 over Eastern Florida State College.

To open the second half, the Pride saw a nearly completely new lineup with the exception of Morgan, Ashlyn Harris, and Toni Pressley staying in for the team. In the 50^th minute, those three were subbed out as fans got a taste of the rest of the 2016 roster and trialists.

The 49^th minute saw Orlando’s eighth and final goal of the match as trialist Allie Wisner beat out the Titan’s Asmara Holmes to get her own goal into the net. The rest of the match was pretty physical, but scoreless for both sides of the pitch and Orlando Pride marked their first of many victories as a brand new team.

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With Alex Morgan being the obvious trailblazer and face of the organization for the team with four goals and one assist in their debut preseason match, we can expect to see many more goals not only throughout the preseason, but also once regular season begins. The next preseason match will be a closed-door match on Tuesday, March 22 against the University of Florida. I have high expectations for the Pride during their inaugural season in the NWSL. Orlando is set to open up NWSL play on April 17 against the Portland Thorns and their first home game will be against the Houston Dash on April 23.