Headlining the National Women’s Soccer League Fall Series’ penultimate weekend games is a fixture between the Orlando Pride and Houston Dash. The Game of the Week will take place at Osceola County Stadium on Friday with kick-off set for 5 p.m. ET and available on CBS Sports Network.
On Saturday, Sky Blue FC will host the Chicago Red Stars at MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field, starting at 4 p.m. ET. The game will be available exclusively on CBS All Access in the U.S. and Canada, and free to watch on Twitch for international audiences.
The third and last game of the weekend between OL Reign and the Portland Thorns will begin at 8 p.m. ET at Cheney Stadium. The game will only be available on Twitch.
Race for 2020 Verizon Community Shield
With the Fall Series coming to an end in less than two weeks, fans should keep an eye out for the Houston Dash and the Portland Thorns. Both these sides have one game left to play in the competition and a shot to win the 2020 Verizon Community Shield.
The Thorns lead the nine-team table tied on points with Washington Spirit (7), but with a goal differential of six compared to the Spirit’s one. Portland head coach Mark Parsons and his group can secure the Supporters Shield and the $25,000 prize that will go to the team’s chosen partner for the competition, Mimi’s Fresh Tees, with a win over OL Reign on Saturday. The Reign lost 4-1 in their last meeting against Portland and they sit in last place with one point after two games.
On the other hand, The Dash sits in third place with six points and one game left to play. They are forced to win their game on Friday against the Pride, who sit in the eighth position. If the result goes Houston’s way, they will have to wait to see if the OL Reign can get a positive result at home against Portland.
Game of the Week: Orlando Pride vs Houston Dash
The Houston Dash leads the all-time record 7W-1D-5L. The Dash have won five and drawn one in the last six meetings against the Orlando Pride. The last time the Pride beat Houston was in May 2018.
On Sept. 26, the Dash defeated the Pride 3-1. Houston had 27 shots, 11 of them on target, while Orlando only had six shots and only two on target. The Dash dominated the rest of the statistics, but what struck out the most was midfielder Kristie Mewis’ hattrick of assists.
Orlando Pride
Orlando is one of the two teams to have played two games up to this stage of the NWLS Fall Series. A scoreless draw in the Pride’s opening game against the North Carolina Courage gave them their only point of the competition so far, having lost their second game 3-1 to the Dash. Nonetheless, the Pride still have a lot to play for with two games left on their schedule. They can potentially clinch a second or third place spot if they win their last two games by large margins and depending on how the rest of the teams perform.
Orlando Pride head coach Marc Skinner will hope for veteran players Marta, Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger to lead the way on Friday. Forward Abby Elinsky, who started in the last two games, will be looking for her first goal wearing the Pride uniform.
Houston Dash
The Dash are heading into their last Fall Series game with one thing in their mind; to win. A win and a Portland Thorns loss would mean a second title win for Houston in 2020. More importantly, it would mean that the Dash could hand over $25,000 to their partner organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Mewis and fellow midfielder Shea Groom are the players to watch for Houston in this game. They both earned call-ups to the U.S. Women’s National Team camp in October and are looking to continue their good runs. Despite playing in the midfield, both players are offensive threats and support their forwards Nichelle Prince, Veronica Latsko and Brianna Visalli.
