Some thoughts on Orlando vs NCC
Just re-watched the game and made some observations
Kristen Edmonds is NOT a very good defender. She made a very nice goal but overall she was the worst player on the pitch. In the first half she left Monica alone a dozen of times to fend for herself, 5-6 turnovers, maybe more. And lot of times when she had the opportunity to pass the ball forward she would take another turn back and then NCC could press up high on her and she’d lose the ball. Why Tom Sermanni keeps playing her is beyond me honestly. She needs to sit on the bench!
Some of the players didn’t reach their previous high standard. Weatherholt, Catley, Morgan was not on top, not even Close.
Monica & Ali was pretty solid without shining. The penalty was a gift from the ref and can not be blamed on Ali. Chi had a good run in the first half and then got very defensive in the second. Kennedy was solid and what a goal!
The ref, well to say he was bad is an understatement. He destroyed that game in my opinion. He allowed NCC to play pretty ugly, a lot of fouls from behind that could have hurt the players. Needs to be a addressed I think. These kind of fouls can really do some damage to a player.
So how did they Pride win this game without playing well? They had a whole lot of fighting spirit, morale and Ashlyn Harris who saved them from early goals in the first half. One of those saves were world class.
