Gotham FC Lose Home Opener To Orlando Pride

Orlando opened the scoring in the second minute on a Gotham own goal and doubled its lead in first-half stoppage time through captain Marta’s penalty conversion

“One [of the positive takeaways] is the personality and character of the team, because it was very difficult to come back after conceding a goal,” Gotham FC coach Juan Carlos Amorós said. “You can start having doubts on the game plan, on how we play and what we want to do. They believed in [our approach], and they [executed it well]. The other positive is that we played against the reigning champion, and we were able to control in every aspect of the game and it was on our side. But this is football. You get the points for scoring goals, but at the end of the day, if you [perform the way we did] in most of the games, then you win most of the games.”

The loss dropped Gotham FC (0-1-1, 1 point) into a tie for ninth place in the very young NWSL standings, but Amorós pointed to a handful of major developmental moments for his team. Forward Khyah Harper made her professional debut, coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute, while defender Lilly Reale earned her first professional start and led all players with nine duels won and five tackles.

Midfielder Jaelin Howell recorded a team-high five shot attempts, the most by any Gotham player in either match this season.

“We’re first and foremost disappointed that we did not get the win, but we definitely had some good moments in the game that I think we can build off of,” captain Tierna Davidson said. “It was definitely tough to start the game off conceding a goal so quickly, but proud of the team for how we stuck with it and stayed in the game, and especially in the second half, how we really controlled the game. It’s disappointing not to be able to win, not to be able to score, but I think there were a lot of good things to take with us.”