Orlando’s 2-1 loss to San Diego on Friday night puts the Pride on the brink of elimination from playoff contention in the NWSL.
The Seattle Reign, who hold the eighth and final playoff spot, were battling ninth-place North Carolina late Friday in the Pacific Northwest. A Seattle victory would knock Orlando out of the playoff race.
Orlando is 10-14-3 with 33 points after the defeat at Inter.co Stadium. The Pride have only three matches left and can collect a maximum of nine points if they win out. Second-place San Diego clinched a playoff spot and improved to 16-8-3 and 51 points. The Wave are chasing Gotham FC for the NWSL Shield as the league’s top team.
“Tough result for where we are,” said Orlando interim head coach Yolanda Thomas. “We gift them a goal early on, and then we’re kind of having to dig ourselves out. I think there were some moments early in the game where we didn’t really control the momentum, or we weren’t given the opportunity to control the momentum.”
San Diego scored early, netting a goal in the fourth minute. A throw-in deep in Orlando’s end landed at the feet of San Diego’s leading scorer, Trinity Byars, who one-touched the ball to an open Lia Godfrey just outside the box. Godfrey had gotten past Ally Lemos; Godfrey’s strike from the center of the box beat keeper Cosette Morché into the bottom left corner of the net to make it 1-0.
It was Godrey’s sixth goal of the year. Byars, who just got called up to the U.S. women’s national team for the first time, was credited with her third assist.
The Wave scored again in the 22nd minute after several defensive miscues allowed Gia Corley to finish off a loose ball and put the visitors up 2-0 before halftime. Morché made two saves in the sequence, but the defense was unable to clear the ball before Corley’s easy netter for her third goal of the season.
Orlando pulled the score back to 2-1 in the 52nd minute after Barbra Banda was fouled in the box and went down injured on the play. Lemos initially was set to take the penalty, but Banda stepped up and delivered. She placed her shot perfectly into the bottom right corner, just out of reach of goalkeeper Sandra Paños.
It was Banda’s 17th goal of the season as she tries to catch North Carolina’s Ashley Sanchez for the league lead. Sanchez entered Friday’s play tied with KC’s Temwa Chamiga for the league single-season record with 20 goals.
“Really proud of the effort, the heart, the commitment to go get ourselves back in the game,” Thomas added. “Unfortunately, didn’t get us all the way back.”
The Pride pressed plenty in the second half, throwing themselves forward, but San Diego countered all evening and had six shots on target to Orlando’s three.
“We’re trying to make playoffs, so we need every win we can,” said Pride midfielder Summer Yates. “This puts us in a little bit of a pickle because we don’t know if we’re gonna make it or not, which is really disappointing because I think this group has worked their butt off all year.”
The league now pauses for a two-week international break. Orlando’s next match is on the road against the Houston Dash on Oct. 18. After facing Houston, the Pride return for their final home match of the season against first-place Gotham on Oct. 25, then close the regular season at Seattle on Nov. 1.