The Orlando Pride return to NWSL action on Friday night, traveling north to face Racing Louisville FC and aiming to grab three points following a lengthy international break.
The Pride (2-1-2, 8 points) take on Louisville (0-3-1, 1 point) at Lynn Family Stadium at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s strange, but the way that we’re doing it is just focusing on chunks at a time, and it’s important to get those two weeks off after such a fast start to get the mental right and to get our bodies right,” Orlando forward Julie Doyle said. “It was nice to have that break to fine-tune the things we needed improvement on, but it’s nice to have the group back as well.”
Orlando hasn’t played a league match since April 3, leaving the coaching staff to balance fitness levels and shake off any lingering rust. Friday’s match kicks off a critical stretch of the schedule. The Pride need to find their rhythm quickly and stack up points before the league pauses again for the summer World Cup break.
“First five games, you don’t want to be perfect. You don’t want to be… peaking at a moment. You always want to continuously improve,” Orlando head coach Seb Hines said. “We found areas that we can improve on. We’ve had a good first five games, but we like winning, and we want to win every game that’s in front of us.”
Racing Louisville presents a prime opportunity for Orlando to spark its offense. Louisville enters the match winless in its first four games, having already allowed 10 goals this year. For an Orlando attack trying to get back on the same page after weeks apart, Friday offers a chance to test a leaky defense and get comfortable in the final third again.
“They always give us a tough game, especially away from home,” Doyle added. “They’re always aggressive, direct and physical. We have to match that… but we also have to play possession-style soccer and stick to what we do well.”
Following Friday’s road test, the Pride return home to face the Washington Spirit on May 2.