**Orlando, Florida** – The Orlando Pride came back from a one goal deficit twice on Sunday night to earn a 2-2 draw with Angel City FC helping both sides stay right on the edge of the playoff race as Orlando and Angel City sit 8 ^th and 7 ^th respectively, though both teams have at least one game in hand on the rest of the league.
The hosts were hungry early as forward Kerry Abello nearly made the visitors pay for a lack of defending after just four minutes played. Teammate Kylie Strom had flicked a ball into the box for Abello to catch with her touch, and in doing so the forward did well to take another step toward goal and get in position to shoot. Firing low across the face of goal though, Abello was unable to find the far corner as the ball rolled wide.
Orlando admittedly looked like they would be the first team to score on the night, but instead, in the 40 ^th minute Angel City defender Ali Riley put her side up a goal as she struck a screamer from the left side of the penalty area into the opposite side of the net to give her team the lead. A long ball into the middle of the box had initially been cleared by the Pride to that left side of the field, but Riley was keen to take the ball on and produced a wonderful hit that sailed past Pride goalkeeper Erin McLeod and in for the game’s first goal.
At the half, Angel City held onto its one-goal lead.
In the 49 ^th minute, one of Orlando’s best opportunities of the entire night came for forward Darian Jenkins just a yard or two out from goal, but somehow, she headed down into the ground and could only watch as the ball bounced over the crossbar and out of play for a goal kick. Nifty footwork from Abello on the left side of the field saw her loop a cross over the entire defense and Angel City goalkeeper Didi Haracic into the path of Jenkins. However, the attack got the header wrong and Orlando’s search for a goal continued.
Thankfully for the hosts, a moment of intelligence from substitute Julie Doyle in the 64 ^th minute helped Orlando to recover and pull level. After a cross into the box was pushed out, Angel City midfielder Savannah McCaskill attempted to play a pass back to a teammate in defense from the top of the 18-yard box into the center. However, right as she released that pass, Doyle came out of seemingly nowhere to steal the ball and beat a rocket of an effort into the top right side of goal for the Pride’s equalizer.
In the 72 ^nd minute, though, Angel City would regain their lead through a set-piece situation that saw midfielder Cari Roccaro clean up a chance from inside the box to score. On corner kick duty was defender Paige Nielsen, who whipped a ball in that beat a pair of Pride defenders before falling at the feet of Roccaro. Putting her best leg forward, Roccaro then poked the ball through the crowd and into the back of the net as Angel City reestablished the lead.
However, right on the edge of fulltime, Orlando would find an all-important equalizer as Abello’s ball in from the left deflected right off the defender Nielsen and into the back of the net to send the home crowd into a frenzy. A well-worked move by the Pride eventually saw the ball worked out to the ever-active Abello on the left. As she drove toward the endline, Abello powered a low cross into the box for any one of her teammates to get a foot on. Instead, Nielsen was the victim of the contact as she saw the ball bundled over the line and into her own net to almost assuredly mean a draw.
Orlando would ask one more question of the Angel City defense in the remainder of stoppage time, but in the end, the hosts nabbed a solitary point off ACFC who failed to hold on for a win at Exploria Stadium. The draw is Orlando’s third straight but helps them move to five games unbeaten, while Angel City bounced back from a defeat against OL Reign to earn their point.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights