ORLANDO, FLORIDA – Tom Sermanni is a simple kind of guy. After the Orlando Pride won their first match of the season, Sermanni said he was “just delighted.”

“We knew it was going to be a very difficult game, particularly with the way Houston set up defensively,” Sermanni said. “They make it really tight and very difficult to break them down. I think we found that particularly in the first half, it was probably a little bit frustrating because we never quite got into a rhythm.”

Orlando Pride claim first win of the season in 1-0 victory over Houston

The first half remained scoreless between the two sides. However, in the second half, Chioma Ubogagu opened up the scoring tally.

In the 65th minute, Christine Narin slotted a free kick to the head of Ubogagu. The shot went right past Houston Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell.

Sermanni said he was “pleased with our response in the second half.”

“I thought we upped the tempo a bit, we started dictating most of the game in the second half and once we got the first goal, we probably had another couple chances to finish the game,” Sermanni said. “Today was a really important game for us to win and the players found a way to win.”

The #Technician with the goal to put us in the lead. #VamosOrlando pic.twitter.com/Wxo3X2jO07

— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) April 22, 2018

Three Takeaways

Welcome back, Kealia: The Houston Dash doesn’t need Carli Lloyd or Christen Press to be the star of their team. Instead, Kealia Ohai already has that spot. For the first time since tearing her ACL last season, Ohai made her return in the 59th minute for Savannah Jordan. This is the boost that Vera Pauw and the Dash certainly needed early in the season.
Orlando might be down, but they’re not out: The Chicago Red Stars and the Orlando Pride are two similar teams: they’re doing alright now, but when their teammates return from injury or international duty, they’ll be better. Orlando is missing a ton of Brazilians, including Poliana, Marta and Camila. When they return, Orlando will be stacked.
Vera is proving me right: One of the biggest concerns this NWSL season has been Vera Pauw’s transformation of the Dash roster. Big names like Lloyd, Press and Andressinha were lost to free agency and trades. Ohai’s return is still premature, but right now Pauw seems to be proving me right: Houston can’t stack up against bigger, better teams.