Marta scores 50th as Orlando Pride rebound with 3-0 win over Kansas City

After a listless loss in their first match back after the summer break, the Orlando Pride came into Friday night’s game against Kansas City desperate to right the ship. Following a scoreless first half at Inter&Co Stadium, the Pride defeated the Current 3-0.

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Kickoff was delayed an hour because of inclement weather in the Pride’s first home match following the break. Orlando’s offense was delayed but got rolling after intermission to improve to 6-6-2 and 20 points in the NWSL standings. Kansas City fell to 8-6-0 and remains at 24 points. The Pride bounced back nicely after falling to Angel City FC last week in Los Angeles 2-0.

Marta, Hannah Anderson, and Barbra Banda scored second-half goals to lead the Pride in front of 8,058 fans. The goal for Marta was her 50th for Orlando, the first player in club history to reach that milestone.

“It was a tough game in the heat, but we seem to be showing up in big games and grinding out results and really fighting for each other in tough moments,” said Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse, who recorded nine saves for her fifth clean sheet of the season. “We did exactly that tonight and scored three goals as well, so happy days.”

Orlando’s attack looked noticeably better with Kerry Abello flying down the left wing. Her ability to open up space allowed the Pride to get balls into the box, but Banda’s first-half absence because of injury made it hard to get a quality shot off. Orlando had just one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.

Defensively, the Pride made several mistakes in possession that allowed Kansas City opportunities to pounce early. Moorhouse, in her 100th game for Orlando across all competitions, made three big first-half saves to keep the score at 0-0 heading into halftime.

“Getting 100 games for this club is something that I didn’t think would happen coming in,” Moorhouse added. “I honestly wasn’t planning on being here so long, but the club is my home now, and I’m really happy to be here and to achieve that milestone.”

Marta proved early in the second half that, at age 40, she still has the ability to take over games. Jacquie Ovalle passed the ball to the Brazilian forward, who fired it into the corner from well outside the box to make it 1-0 in the 49th minute. Ovalle recorded her team-leading third assist of the season on the Marta finish.

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The goal was Marta’s 50th in purple since joining the club in 2017.

“I just (found out) about that after the game, but of course I’m happy about the goal,” Marta said. “I’m most happy about the result because we’re always working for three points, and yeah, I’m happy to keep making history in this club.”

Anderson added a second score for Orlando in the 57th minute thanks to an excellent header. Marta earned a corner kick that was taken by Ally Lemos. Lemos’ delivery was perfect, finding an open Anderson in the box to head it home for a 2-0 lead.

It was Anderson’s second goal of the season, while Lemos collected her second assist of the campaign.

Banda made her return from injury as a second-half substitute in the 76th minute. Nine minutes later, she capitalized on a failed clearance to make it 3-0. Current goalkeeper Marisa Jordan mishit an attempted clearance, allowing Banda to snatch the ball and score on an open net in the 85th minute.

The goal increased Banda’s league-leading total to 12 in 13 matches.

“Really pleased with the result,” Orlando coach Seb Hines said. “I think it was quite even in the first half. We had some half-chances, and we tried to stop their key players from having a big influence on the game. I thought the players implemented the game plan very well.

“We had some really outstanding performances. I thought it was a really big collective effort from everyone. I thought we showed what we were capable of doing. It was nice to get some goals and a clean sheet at the end of it.”

Orlando’s next match is Wednesday, with Boston Legacy FC coming to town. Boston (3-7-4) is coming off a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Stars and defeated Orlando 2-1 when the teams met in Massachusetts on May 12.

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