The Orlando Pride have settled into its season. The long international break is over and the team has reached its midpoint of the inaugural season.
The Pride have 12 points in 10 games, sitting three points out of the final playoff spot at this point — and still an Olympic break to come. They are sitting in the middle of the pack with eight goals this season.
Alex Morgan has two of those goals. Two more came from Lianne Sanderson. And that is where the heart of the problem lies. The Pride recently traded Sanderson to the West New York Flash, taking away another scoring outlet for Orlando.
The Pride have scored just two goals in the last four games — notably though two wins. Losing one of the team’s best goal scorers puts pressure on an already pressured Alex Morgan.
There are few options to support Morgan, as Logan F. Oliver of The Mane Land writes:
Part of the deficiency is to be expected; the club has brought in a unit of talented defenders and defensive midfielders but the names on the other side aren’t quite as impressive. Sarah Hagen was the other big-name forward behind Morgan and they took Samantha Witteman and Christina Burkenroad in the first two rounds of the College Draft, but they only have one goal between the three of them in limited playing time.
Coupled with the youth leading the line, consistent starters Kristen Edmonds and Monica Hickmann Alves have been defenders for the majority of their careers, but Tom Sermanni has deployed them in midfield. Both are capable players higher up the pitch, but their end product is lacking.
There is not much of a sense of who that support will come from. And Morgan already has constant pressure on her from defenders. She is the lone striker and one of the best in the world. Defenses are geared to stop her and the Pride have to find someone else to ease that in support.
So far, it is hard to say they have. And that might be why the results continue to be uneven — while the Pride are unbeaten at home, they have taken three clean sheets in their 12 games so far, including the last two.
Coach Tom Sermanni told the Orlando Sentinel he is hoping to see the team be a little more aggressive as it plays the Houston Dash tonight at Camping World Stadium. They will have to begin figuring out a new offensive strategy.
The good news is the Pride start a long homestand heading into the Olympic break with tonight’s game. With the Pride finding some comfort at home, it will be an important time period for the team to find some offensive consistency.
Draft Day for Orlando Magic
Today is Draft day for the Orlando Magic. There are a lot of moving pieces and lots of expectations for the team to make a big move as they try to make the Playoffs.
Orlando has a lot of options in front of it this offseason. And it starts with a draft that has proven to be pretty deep with similar talent.
On Orlando Magic Daily the last two weeks, we have profiled several of the prospects for this Magic pick. Now, I have ordered them based on who I think the Magic should pick.
General manager Rob Hennigan said the team is exploring every option. But if the team keeps its pick — still a very realistic possibility — the Magic will take the best player available with the intent that the player will contribute in some way immediately.
The Magic are not averse to taking a project if that is the best option available to them.
You can also hear me break these options down on the new Locked On Magic Podcast:
The Draft begins at 7 p.m. Orlando has the 11th pick.
