Changes could be coming after the Orlando Pride's stars didn't live up to boss Tom Sermanni's expectations in a loss to the North Carolina Courage.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A 3-0 loss to the No. 1 North Carolina Courage was not how head coach Tom Sermanni and his Orlando Pride wanted to end the month of June. The situation was already sour because of a surreal, 2-1 loss to the No. 7 Houston Dash just a few days earlier.

Now, Orlando’s first set of back-to-back losses since the second and third games of 2018 has made Sermanni, perhaps, a little more openly critical of his players than he usually is. He began with criticisms of the team’s general performance after the loss to the Courage.

“To be frank, looking through our team today, there’s no player that can, you know, basically look at themselves and say, ‘I should be a definite starter next week,'” Sermanni said. “I don’t think anybody played like a star today.”

On most any other team, this criticism might seem unfair. For the Pride, however, their roster is loaded with stars at almost every position.

The attack is led by star forwards Marta Vieira da Silva, Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux. More national-team talent occupies the midfield, as Australians Alanna Kennedy and Emily van Egmond and American Christine Nairn have helped Orlando become the league’s second-best offense, so far. In the defense, decorated defenders Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris contribute additional American experience.

And from a statistical perspective, it appears Orlando’s leaders did what was expected of them. Marta, for example, took two shots, created a game-high four chances and completed 77.5 percent of her 31 passes against the Courage.

As for the team, Orlando tied North Carolina in shots (15), recorded more corners (10-3) and more crosses (16-10) and out-possessed (55 percent-45 percent) the Courage.

Two moments in the Pride’s losses to Houston and North Carolina have warranted harsh criticism, however. Against Houston, the Pride were well on their way to victory after recording a team record 15 first-half shots; they led just 1-0 at halftime, though. That gave way to two goals in four minutes off chances by forward Kealia Ohai and ultimately a loss.

Somehow, a similar chain of events happened against the Courage — except, this time, it was worse. North Carolina scored three goals in four minutes in the first half, giving way to the final score.

Kennedy said the three-goal deficit entering halftime kicked the Pride into another gear that helped them be more competitive but said that intent needs to be there from the start.

“I felt like it took those goals for us to…lift that extra gear, and I don’t think that’s what we need to be doing,” Kennedy said after the loss on June 30. “We need to be starting the game like that.”

Now, Sermanni has a week before his next match, a home bout with the Washington Spirit. The recent disappointments have had him considering significant lineup changes.

While the third-year head coach doesn’t intend — nor see it possible — to set one lineup for the final nine regular-season games, he said the changes will be performance-based.

“It’s now the time for us to say, ‘Well, here’s the deal,'” Sermanni began. “‘We’ve got a lot of star players on our team; we’ve got a lot of international players on our team,’ and it’s time that we need to say, ‘Players need to step up to the plate.’

“And we need to then think, ‘This is our best team, our best formation,’ regardless of the pedigree and the quality of the player.”

It’s only speculation who Sermanni could be speaking about in whatever regard.

In one case, Morgan has been relatively quiet this season, scoring just three goals in 12 games this season. She sounded almost relieved when she noted she had scored her first home goal of 2018 in the loss to Houston, the team’s 14th match of the season. In 2017, she tallied nine goals and four assists in 13 appearances and 12 starts.

As for Leroux, she’s also gone quiet over the past three games. The first-year Pride forward was coming off a stretch of four goals in three games before hitting another scoreless stretch in which she has only notched three shots (one on-target) in her past three appearances.

On the flip side, players like forward Rachel Hill could begin to see more time. Against North Carolina, she made her fourth start of the season. Hill’s performances this season have made her deserving of more minutes.

The second-year forward opened her 2018 scoring account by scoring one of the two goals in the Pride’s first-ever win over the Chicago Red Stars on May 2. Three weeks later, she started a three-game goal-scoring streak with two clutch moments.

In the Pride’s first meeting with North Carolina on May 23, Orlando lost 4-3. Hill, however, gave hope for at least a draw, scoring a third-goal equalizer in just 15 minutes of action.

After contributing to a season-high five goals in the Pride’s second win over Chicago, Hill was clutch again on June 16. In only 30 minutes of a 3-2 win over Sky Blue FC, she produced a game-winning header in the 83rd minute.

“I think that just having a year under my belt in the league really helps now, and I feel like I’m a little bit more confident,” Hill said after the win over Sky Blue. “I know what to expect when I step out on the field. And, just individually, there’s a lot that I’ve been working on…so I feel as though I am growing each and every day.”

Sermanni’s decision to move names with significant star power to the bench could be a difficult one, but it’s not one he needs to make on a whim. Orlando is still in a good position with almost two-thirds of the season done. The Pride are tied in points with Chicago with 22 but reside in third place with one more win.

The rest of the standings are tight, though, as seventh-place Houston is only five points below the Pride.

Orlando will face off against eighth-place Washington on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

For more on the Pride, as they look to end their second losing streak of the 2018 season, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.

To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com. or you can tweet at him.