NWSL Lifetime Game of the Week 9

NWSL Week 9 Chicago Red Stars vs. Orlando Pride Recap

(Photo courtesy of NWSL)

In this week’s NWSL Lifetime Game of the Week, the Orlando Pride (4-3-3, 15 points) defeated the Chicago Red Stars (2-3-6, 12 points) 5-2 on Saturday afternoon at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, in front of 5,047 fans.

Orlando forward Rachel Hill got the Pride on the board early, scoring in just the 2^nd minute. Four minutes later, a pair of soccer superstars connected, when Marta served a ball into Alex Morgan for a header goal to put the Pride up 2-0. Chicago answered in the 21^st minute. Orlando goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris made a “goal of the week” type save on a Sam Kerr breakaway, but Kerr would get another chance after a poor clearance by the Pride. The Red Stars quickly regained possession and Kerr headed home a Yuki Nagasato cross for her third goal of the season. In the 60^th minute, Kerr and Nagasato struck again. Kerr beat the Orlando defense with a well-timed run and slotted the ball past Harris to make it 2-2.

Now, it was only fitting that the second-half would be dominated by a second-half sub. After entering the match in the 52^nd minute to replace Marta, Sydney Leroux scored on a diving header in the 61^st minute. Leroux got her brace just two minutes later to put the Pride up 4-2. Pride midfielder Dani Weatherholt finished off the scoring in the 83^rd minute off an assist from Morgan.  

Player of the Match:

Orlando Pride midfielder Dani Weatherholt

(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

Pride midfielder Dani Weatherholt is the “Player of the Match”. Sydney Leroux, Alex Morgan and Rachel Hill were all deserving of this honor. Leroux for her second half brace, Morgan for scoring her 30^th career NWSL goal and Hill for scoring the fastest goal in Pride history, but the day belonged to Weatherholt. Saturday showed that Weatherholt is an amazing player on the field and an amazing person off of it. She was featured on the Lifetime pre-game show, where discussed her friendship with Zayne Burton, a young a cancer patient. (If you didn’t see it, I highly recommend you watch. Also, keep tissues nearby.) Then, she found the back of the net for her 2^nd career NWSL goal. 

What’s next?

The Pride will travel to Seattle to face the Reign on Sunday, June 3. Kickoff is set for 9:00pm ET. This match will be streaming live on go90.

The Red Stars will hit the road to take on the Washington Spirit on Saturday June 2, at 3:30pm ET in the next NWSL Lifetime Game of the Week.