ORLANDO, FLORIDA (July 21, 2018) — Jodie Taylor isn’t letting Megan Rapinoe score all the goals for Seattle Reign FC.
Instead, the English-player is scoring goals of her own. Taylor added to her season total, which is at six, with a goal against the Orlando Pride. Taylor’s goal was the equalizer, preventing Orlando from scooping up three points.
Jodie Taylor Adds Another Goal in 1-1 Draw Against Orlando Pride
Taylor scored in the 70th minute. Nahomi Kawasumi assisted, before jetting off to the Tournament of Nations with Japan. Kawasumi will be joined by teammate Rumi Utsugi, who was also named to Japan’s roster last week.
Orlando kicked off the scoring in the match, though.
Toni Pressley, who has started eight of nine appearances, scored her first goal of the season in the 20th minute. After the match, Pressley said the new defensive-midfield was challenging, but she kept a positive mindset.
“I knew that I wanted to be on the field no matter where it was and contribute in any way that I can to the team and I’m happy to do so wherever that is on the field,” Pressley.
As for her goal, Pressley said that she “always” tries to put herself in a good position, no matter where it is on the pitch.
“Fortunately I was able to score a goal and make a save as well,” Pressley said.
After the match, Tom Sermanni said the team started “okay.”
“We had some decent passages of play, but we didn’t seem to have the energy tonight to really threaten Seattle as much as we should have and I just felt we made, what I call, a lot of really fundamental errors,” Sermanni said. “And I felt that again we went back into bad habits at times and it was kind of frustrating.”
He said that he found the second half to be a “very frustrating game.”
“Really delighted that we hung in and got a point and that keeps us right in the mix, but there’s some fundamental parts of our game that we need to do an awful lot better,” Sermanni said.
With this goal, @Jodes_14 became one of just 11 @NWSL players with 6⃣ goals on the season pic.twitter.com/iefTZRnuIt
— OL Reign (@OLReign) July 22, 2018
Three Takeaways
- Kopmeyer gets another start: Haley Kopmeyer has featured behind Ashlyn Harris this season but has stepped up during times of injury and international duty. She stepped up once more against Seattle, making six saves to deny Jessica Fishlock, Beverly Yanez, Morgan Andrews, and Taylor.
- Yanez, Utsugi leave the match early: While there was no listing of what happened with Rumi Utsugi, Beverly Yanez left the match early. So did her Japanese teammate. According to Seattle’s official website, Yanez went down with an undisclosed injury. There has been no update on Yanez or the mysterious injury.
- Williams seems to be Seattle’s No. 1: While Michelle Betos really didn’t do anything to lose her starting position, she ultimately did. Sometimes, Betos will feature in matches, but mainly it’s Lydia Williams who is starting for Vlatko Andonvoski. Williams made three saves, denying Chioma Ubogagu, Marta, and Camila.
Today's match brings Reign FC goalkeepers up to 73 saves on the season. That's 73 trees coming from our friends at @cartersubaru 👏☔️🌲 pic.twitter.com/5LfJfC8yUU
— OL Reign (@OLReign) July 21, 2018
