— When the Women’s Soccer United Association (WUSA) announced its original formation in 2000, the team roster included the Orlando Tempest. The Tempest participated in the first WUSA player draft in May 2000, then the league’s foreign player draft on October 30, 2000. The next day, the WUSA announced that the Tempest was relocating prior to the league’s inaugural 2001 season, a consequence of not being able to secure a suitable stadium. The new home for the Tempest: Cary, North Carolina, where the team became the Carolina Courage.

Two years ago, Orlando finally got its top division women’s soccer team, this time in the National Women’s Soccer League. Today, the Orlando Pride came to Cary under its own banner to face the newest iteration of the Courage, themselves the transplant product of the Western New York Flash.

In the end, the Courage kept up their early season success. The team allowed its first goal of the year, but three scores on their side proved sufficient for a 3-1 victory. It’s the Courage’s third win in as many matches.

With temperatures hovering near 90 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity near 60 percent, the game proved taxing on both sides.

“I don’t think we had a game at this temperature at any point in Western New York,” said Courage manager Paul Riley. “We haven't even trained in this, to be honest. The weather has been relatively calm the past couple of weeks. It was certainly an eye-opener for us, and we’re such an attacking team it took a little spunk out of us.”

“You could tell the heat affected all of us today,” said Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris. “This is much more hot than Orlando right now.”

The Courage got off the mark in the 6th minute. Triggered by a cross from Makenzy Doniak, Lynn Williams’ back-post header suffered a one-handed saved by a diving Harris. But Jessica McDonald was on the spot to stick back the rebound for an early 1-0 Courage advantage and McDonald’s first goal of 2017.

As North Carolina failed to seize several chances to extend their lead, the Pride found an equalizer in the 27th minute. Camila charged onto the 18-yard line before uncorking a curler that sailed away from Courage keeper Sabrina D’Angelo into the far netting.

The Courage retook the lead after the Pride’s Laura Alleway was whistled for a handball penalty on a Doniak shot in the 32nd minute. Sam Mewis, who failed to convert a kick from the spot last week against Portland, blasted today’s attempt into nylon for his first score of the season.

Orlando nearly evened the scoreline again in the 39th minute, but a running point-blank boot by Marta was misdirected by D’Angelo’s arm before being cleared off the line by defender Abby Dahlkemper.

Williams finally joined the party in the 70th minute. After Debinha intercepted a pass from Harris, she centered to Williams, who settled with her right foot before snapping a shot past the keeper for the ultimately final 3-1 margin of victory.

“I saw Debinha, there was a space in their back line,” Williams said. “Debinha crossed it to me. I took a touch and the ball bounced up, and I thought, ‘I’ve been practicing this, I’m just going to hit it.’ I kept my head down and aimed for the back post and hit it.”

Williams, last year’s NWSL Golden Boot winner, earned her first goal of 2017 with a whopping 11 shots today, after tallying 11 over the previous two matches.

“I try to not put pressure on myself,” Williams said. “Obviously as a forward, sometimes that’s hard. But I’d be more worried if the chances stopped coming. As long as I’m still creating chances, then the scoring will come.”

Although North Carolina outshot Orlando 23-13, there were stretches when the two teams appeared evenly matched. Riley says the ultimate difference was what each team did with their opportunities.

“The best thing for us today was we created a good ten quality chances. I don’t think they created three or four quality chances, even though the game wasn’t lopsided at times. When we got forward, we looked dangerous. When they got forward, we kept them at bay, we blocked crosses. And Sabrina [D’Angelo] did some good stuff with her handling and kept them away from goal as best she could.”

Brazilian legend Marta got her first start of the this NWSL season since joining the Pride two weeks ago. Orlando manager Tom Sermanni said his team’s woes aren’t related personnel, but more “getting people on the same page to a degree and getting more cohesion.”

“We looked at the stats recently, and we’ve actually had the most shots at goal in the league,” said Pride manager Tom Sermanni. “Of the three games we’ve played, we’ve had a reasonable amount of possession in positions where we actually felt we could have done more, and we just haven't. We needed a little more ingenuity to finish off some of those things.”

On the other hand, Ashlyn Harris was forced into making ten saves even while surrendering three goals. After the game, the Pride’s captain issued an extended polemic, exuding the collective frustration of a team still looking for its first win while allowing the most goals in the league.

“We struggled a bit and we have some holes we need to fix,” Harris began. “At the beginning of the match, we should have put a few goals away, and that steals the momentum, especially when you’re playing against a team like this with the home crowd. You have to put those things away, it changes the game. And we didn’t.

“At this level, when you get opportunities to score you have to put the ball away. I think we just kept bowling forward and we weren’t using the discipline to get back and defend. It was a game of transition, and that’s not good enough. We have to work on discipline to get forward and discipline to get back, because defense wins games. [The Courage] broke through way too many times. I don’t care what people say: ‘Oh, they’re fast, they’re athletic, they’re whatever.’ It’s not good enough. For me, my job is to show up and make a few saves to change the game. But every game I can’t stand on my head and pull saves out of my behind. I need more from certain players, and I’m not getting it. Each week it’s tough because you demand a certain standard and when you don’t get that it’s very frustrating.

“Yes, there were parts of this game where we connected well. We like to possess the ball, and the style we want to play is good football. But it’s not showing. We’re not winning games, we’re not getting results, we’re not scoring goals, we’re not being dangerous, and that has to change.”

Where does the change start?

“Controlling your own individual performance, and that’s every single person on the field,” Harris continued. “I’ll go back and look back at the stats, but how many first and second balls are we winning? How many unforced turnovers do we have? These are the small things that win and lose games, and that’s why we’re not getting results. We have to be better all around, we build off it, we give ourself a little kick in the ass, and we have to be better for next week.

“Certain players need to be better, and at this level just existing and showing up and hiding in pockets is not good enough. You have to be game changers. You have to want the ball. Otherwise we’re not going to be successful as a team. We need game changers. [The Courage] have game changers on all different lines: back line, front line, midfield, defensive, wing backs. All that. We need game changers.”

Marta is not a game changer?

“Yeah, she’s a game changer,” Harris responded. “But if she’s not putting the ball in the back of the net, she’s not doing much for me.”

The Pride (0W-2L-1T) visits FC Kansas City next Sunday. Meanwhile, the Courage (3W-0L-0T) hits the road for their next two matches, beginning next Sunday evening at the Boston Breakers.

“Orlando’s a great team and they have a lot of dangerous weapons,” said Courage defender Abby Dahlkemper. “They’re quick in their attacking third, so they definitely put us under pressure. But at the end of the day, we got three points and we’ll be able to learn from this game.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

NC: D’Angelo, Erceg, Dahlkemper, Hinkle (Witteman, 77’), Kawamura, Mewis, Zerboni, Doniak (T. Smith, 77’), Debinha, McDonald (Hatch, 83’) and L. Williams

ORL: Harris, Krieger, Catley, Kennedy, Alleway, Monica (Weatherholt, 69’), Edmonds, Camila, Spencer (D. Evans, 69’), Ubogagu (Driesse, 82’) and Marta

GOALS

NC: McDonald, 6’; Mewis, 33’ (PK); Williams, 70’ (Debinha)

ORL: Camila, 27’

CAUTIONS

NC: Mewis, 18’; Zerboni, 81’

ORL: ---

EJECTIONS

NC: ---

ORL: ---

ATTENDANCE: 4,586