With the return of Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris, the Orlando Pride are well on their way back to full strength.

ORLANDO, Fla. – In the 2017 National Women’s Soccer League season, the Orlando Pride developed one of the most explosive offenses the league has seen in its five-season history. The Pride scored a league-leading 45 goals, a total that is second only to Seattle Reign FC’s 50-goal mark in 2014.

So far, this season has been different.

Orlando is two matches into its 2018 season but has only scored one goal: a penalty kick by forward Marta Vieira da Silva in the season opener. Last season, the Pride only had two two-game stretches wherein they scored one goal.

For forward Alex Morgan, who most recently scored four times in two matches for the United States women’s national team, fixing Orlando’s goal-scoring woes is a matter of finding one of Orlando’s deadly attackers in a particular position.

“If we can get our forwards the ball faced up against their back line, that’s pretty lethal,” Morgan said after training on April 12. “And so I feel like as long as we can possess the ball and get the ball up there without turning it over–and making it a transition moment for the other team is huge for us…”

Part of what’s affecting the Pride’s goal-scoring abilities is an all-too-familiar challenge Orlando has faced over its three-year existence: national-team call-ups. Amid what head coach Tom Sermanni called a “more-disruptive” season of call-ups, the Pride are unable to train with a full roster and aren’t able to produce a consistent lineup on game day.

Morgan is one of the Pride’s attacking players who missed time, as she played in friendlies against the Mexican women’s national team on April 5 and April 8. Now, Marta, who led the Pride in goals (13) and assists (six) last season, and Australian Alanna Kennedy, who recorded four goals and an assist in 2017, are away.

Orlando’s lack of a full roster has been so apparent that the team has signed four national-team replacement players, signings the Pride did not make in either of their first two seasons.

The Pride have even recruited former Orlando City SC players Seb Hines and Kevin Alston and goalkeepers coach Lloyd Yaxley to participate in scrimmages at training.

“[National-team call-ups have] probably been a little bit more disruptive this season,” Sermanni said after training on April 12. “I think the players have been away for longer–or more players have been away for much longer.

“And, again, you know, it wasn’t our intent to turn the team over, perhaps, as much as we did during the offseason…and that, itself, takes a little bit [of] time for people to come in and gel and adjust to each other.”

Morgan has also noticed the difficulty presented by national-team duty on the club side. But as one of the leaders and founding players of the Pride, she’s more familiar with how her head coach wants to play.

She believes her experiences and the experiences of other returning players will help the Pride’s chemistry.

“It’s been pretty difficult, honestly, to get a good fluidity within the team and just knowing that we’re gonna have the Brazilians and Australians back soon but not soon enough,” Morgan said. “It’s really difficult ’cause I feel like, again, this year, we’re gonna be playing a little bit of catch-up just with those first couple games not really getting the results we wanted.”

Said Morgan on using past experiences with the Pride in 2018: “Yeah, I think just knowing more of exactly how Tom wants us to play helps. So, I think, before, we didn’t really have much of an idea of the attack that we wanted or, defensively, what…kind of pockets we wanted to pressure teams into.”

Despite the early difficulties, Sermanni isn’t concerned with his team’s standing. After all, one of the Pride’s stretches of one goal in two games from last season came in the first two games. The third-year Pride boss said the team looks like it’s still in its early-season form and not up to match speed.

As for Morgan, she’s confident that goals will come once the team returns its regular starting lineup.

In addition to Marta and Kennedy, the Pride are also missing Brazilians Monica Hickmann Alves and Poliana Barbosa Medeiros and Australian Emily van Egmond. All players are expected to be back in Orlando by the end of April.

“I think it’s just us not giving up silly errors,” Morgan said. “And, you know, hopefully we’ll see less of that with that consistent lineup coming in the next few games.”

The Pride are currently stationed in Portland, Oregon, as they prepare for a Sunday-night matchup with Portland Thorns FC. Kickoff will be at 6 p.m.

Edits Log:

4/14/18, 7:57 a.m.: Fixed factual error regarding how many seasons the NWSL has been in existence.

For more on the Pride, as they look to find their scoring touch, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.

To contact Victor, you can contact him at vtan@newdayreview.