(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

Match Recap

ORLANDO, Fla. – An unlikely heroine arose for the Orlando Pride in a pivotal match to help the Central Florida side solidify a spot in the National Women’s Soccer League playoffs. Rookie forward Rachel Hill played all 90 minutes and recorded an early, first-half brace to propel the Pride (10-6-5, 35 points) to a 4-2 win over the Boston Breakers (3-11-7, 16 points) at Orlando City Stadium Saturday night in front of 5,413 fans.

“Not necessarily this week, but she’s always looked dangerous,” Pride head coach Tom Sermanni said after the match. “…I think, again, it was symptomatic of that first 30 minutes. So, the fact that the goals that she scored was the play building up to the goals, I thought, was fantastic as well. But she’s always full of energy. She keeps making runs in the box. She keeps getting on the end of things, and she’s a real handful to play against.”

Orlando’s attack has consistently been highlighted by top-five, NWSL goal-scorers Marta Vieira da Silva and Alex Morgan, but it was Hill’s time for glory. She opened the game with a 16-minute brace, scoring, first, in the seventh minute.

Left-back Steph Catley worked the ball down the left flank and led Chioma Ubogagu near the left end-line. The first-year Pride forward then crossed the ball to Morgan, who took a close-range shot that was saved by Breakers goalkeeper Abby Smith. Hill, however, was there for the rebound and ricocheted the ball off Smith’s hands and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Hill doubled the Pride’s lead with a goal assisted by Morgan in the 16th minute. The effort, once again, started with Catley, who led Morgan down the left flank toward the end-line with a through ball. One touch later, Morgan sent a grounded cross past two defenders to an open Hill on the back post for a 2-0 lead.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m a striker, so I like to score,” said Hill, who had scored just once in 11 games before the win over Boston, after the match. “So not scoring much, that was motivating enough.”

Following an early, second-half goal by the Breakers’ Rosie White, Ubogagu led the charge to complete Orlando’s win. She assisted on a 67th-minute goal to Marta, as she led the Brazilian into the box for a left-footed strike past Smith. Ubogagu then scored one of her own, scoring in the 77th minute with a box-penetrating move down the middle-left flank for a 4-1 lead.

The 24-year-old finished with her second goal in two games and an assist.

“Yeah, [Ali Krieger] did a good job. She’s a leader on and off the field, and, at halftime, she was kinda saying, you know, 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in football, so, you know, starting the second half, she really wanted us to kinda start how we started the first half,” Ubogagu said after the match. “So when that goal [by White] went in, it was kinda frustrating ‘cause we all knew that wasn’t good enough.

“So I was just trying to help us play the way we knew we could play and get back to how we were playing majority of the first half.”

Woman of the Match: Rachel Hill

Hill finished her first start since Aug. 5 with a brace and 90 minutes of action. Not only was she both aggressive and instrumental in the Pride’s attack, but the first-year NWSL forward also helped the Pride defensively. She finished with two tackles, two shots (two shots on goal) and completed 70 percent of her 20 passes.

Pride Look to Improve Defense as Regular Season Concludes

During the former half of the 2017 season, Sermanni said his team needed to finish its chances. Behind 11 goal-scorers and a league-high 41 goals, the Pride have found their rhythm in the attack. Now, for Sermanni and his team, the focus is on defense.

“Again, it’s just making sure that during those down times in the games—any team has ’em—that we’re just a little bit more defensively disciplined,” the second-year Pride boss said. “And when I say defensively disciplined, I don’t mean our defense. I mean our whole team just has to be a little bit more switched on defensively so that during those periods, or those down periods, we don’t give anything dumb away.

“And, also, during those periods, when we then have possession, that [our] decision-making becomes good or better so that, again, we don’t get into that possession going to and fro all the time.”

For Ubogagu, the sentiment is the same—except her idea is, perhaps, slightly more specific.

“Yeah, shutouts, closing games,” Ubogagu said. “I think that’s really important, and I think, at first, the few games we were losing points or losing the game altogether is ’cause we weren’t getting shutouts, so, yes, we’re scoring goals, but it’s really important to keep the zero on the score sheet as well.”

The Pride let up an early, second-half score in the 49th minute and another goal in the 88th minute.

What’s next?

The Pride will host the Seattle Reign on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Highlights

The goal from the rook-🔑 has us up early here at home. 1-0 | #ORLvBOS pic.twitter.com/SDgwuFfted — Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) September 2, 2017

22′ | Nearly a first half hatty from Hill. Does not seem like she plans on letting up anytime soon. 2-0 | #ORLvBOS pic.twitter.com/dx5iDYWLbW — Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) September 3, 2017

NDR Notes

Morgan’s five-game scoring streak came to an end Saturday evening. She had previously scored seven goals in five games, including two braces.

Hill started her first game since injuring her ankle in a draw against the Chicago Red Stars on Aug. 5.

Ubogagu scored her second goal in two games.

With a four-goal performance on Saturday, the Pride are the first team in the NWSL to score 40 times this season.

Scoring

Time Team Goal-scorer Assisted by 7’ Orlando Pride Rachel Hill n/a 16’ Orlando Pride Rachel Hill Alex Morgan, Steph Catley 49’ Boston Breakers Rosie White Amanda Frisbie, Margaret Purce 67’ Orlando Pride Marta Vieira da Silva Chioma Ubogagu 76’ Orlando Pride Chioma Ubogagu n/a 88’’ Boston Breakers Julie King Adriana Leon

Statistics and Starting Lineups

Goals Assists Shots Shots on Goal Possession % Orlando Pride 4 3 12 7 53.9% Boston Breakers 2 3 7 2 46.1%

Orlando Pride starting XI (4-3-3): Ashlyn Harris (GK/C); Steph Catley, Ali Krieger, Monica Hickmann Alves, Camila Martins Pereira; Alanna Kennedy, Marta Vieira da Silva, Dani Weatherholt; Chioma Ubogagu, Alex Morgan, Rachel Hill

Boston Breakers starting XI (4-4-2): Abby Smith (GK); Allysha Chapman, Julie King (C), Megan Oyster, Margaret Purce; Rosie White, Angela Salem, Adriana Leon, Brooke Elby; Katie Stengel, Amanda Frisbie

For more on the Pride, as they look to solidify their playoff spot, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.