Orlando may not have been in the championship match, but National Women’s Soccer League managing director Amanda Duffy continued to use the city and the Orlando Pride as an example of what she hopes to see from other clubs in the league moving forward.

“This is an amazing stadium … Orlando has done a fantastic job of building this and seeing a dream come alive,” Duffy said. “I think with the championship you want to have the best environment and be in a location where you can have the best access for fans and for the players to have the best setting.

“At this stadium, Orlando City Stadium, you certainly get all the pieces to pull all of this together and make this an event that we’re proud of, our teams are proud of and our owners are proud of.”

An announced crowd of 8,124 barely filled the 25,500-seat stadium, which again raised the question among fans and media of whether a neutral site is the best option or the championship should be held at one of the participating teams’ stadiums.

Duffy said that is something the league is evaluating and no decision has been made yet on whether a neutral site will be used in 2018.

North Carolina coach Paul Riley said it doesn’t matter. He would have liked to host the title match in front of a home crowd, but he though the pitch at Orlando City Stadium was in pristine condition.

He also said he could feel and hear Orlando fans who attended the game cheering and yelling for North Carolina, urging them to find an equalizer against the Portland team that crushed the Pride’s home championship hopes in the semifinals.

“The food is better at this stadium than it is at some other stadiums in the league, too,” Riley said laughing.

Duffy is entering her first offseason as managing director of the NWSL and said next year’s championship is just one of many things she’d like to look at over the next few months.

There also are conversations about changing the playoff format, she said, an issue Pride coach Tom Sermanni raised in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel last week.

“Hopefully next year we’ll have a home and away type fixture,” Sermanni said.

When asked if there is a possibility the NWSL changes to a home-and-away series format for the playoffs, Duffy said, “As our teams are continuing to develop and the stadiums that we have in the league are continuing to be more along the lines of an Orlando City Stadium … as our stadium resources grow and the development of our teams and human resources grow, that’s going to be something that we continue to look at and evaluate.”

ardelgallo@orlandosentinel.com