CARY, N.C. — Evelyn Ijeh scored three goals to lead the North Carolina Courage in a 5-0 victory over the Orlando Pride in the lone National Women’s Soccer League match on Friday night.
Lauryn Thompson and Ashley Sanchez also scored for the Courage (7-6-3 and 24 points), who snapped a three-game losing streak. The margin of victory was the largest in the NWSL this season. Orlando fell to 7-9-2 and 23 points. The Pride dropped to eighth in the standings as North Carolina leaped over them and into seventh place.
Orlando coach Seb Hines was frank after the loss, in comments provided by the team.
“Frustrating game,” said Hines, whose team has now lost three of its last four matches. “It is always a tough place to come play and it is even more difficult when you allow teams like North Carolina to get involved in the game. We killed ourselves in the first half. They took an early lead and then we got into some good areas but weren’t really threatening in those situations.”
Orlando has not won in North Carolina since 2022, with three draws and three defeats. Historically, the Pride are 3-9-6 on the road against the Courage.
Thompson opened the scoring with her first career goal in the fourth minute. Ijeh scored two first-half goals to give the Courage a 3-0 lead at the break. She added another in the 70th minute for her first career hat trick. Ijeh has seven goals and two assists in her last eight games.
Courage goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan had two saves for the shutout. In a bright spot for Orlando, goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse made three saves in the heavy loss and broke the franchise record for career regular-season saves with 292. Ashlyn Harris was the previous record-holder with 289 saves.
Sanchez scored her team-leading 10th goal of the season in stoppage time. Sanchez ranks second in the league in goals behind the Pride’s Barbra Banda (12 goals), who was not available for Orlando because she is playing for Zambia in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. Banda was in fine form for her nation’s opening match of the tournament, scoring four goals in a 6-0 rout of Egypt on Tuesday.
Hines outlined what he said to his club after the loss.
“Spoke to the players after the game that we have to compete more,” Hines said, “we have to have that intensity that we do and be brave on the ball and clean on the ball as well. Teams like North Carolina can punish you in transition and they did tonight.”
Coming on as a second-half substitute, Zoe Matthews made her Pride debut. Hines made one change to his starting XI, with Rafaelle entering the lineup.
Orlando returns to action Friday at 7 p.m. at home against Racing Louisville.