A Portland own goal during second-half stoppage time gave the Orlando Pride the needed tally to notch a 1-0 victory over the visiting Thorns on Friday night.
Marta took a corner kick in the second minute of extra time and her boot went toward the mass of people flocking in front of the net. Portland goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold was eyeing the ball, but teammate Mallie McKenzie tried to clear it and the ball hit off the side of her head and went into the net.
The victory was the second in three matches for Orlando (10-8-6, 36 points), which won for just the second time in its past 12 NWSL matches (2-5-5). The Pride jumped into third place in the standings ahead of Gotham and the Seattle Reign, who tied Bay FC 1-1 later Friday night.
Arnold made five saves for Portland (9-8-7, 34 points) and kept the match scoreless with a stellar stop on a right-footed shot by Orlando’s Ally Watt in the 61st minute. The Thorns are tied on points with Seattle, pending the outcome of the latter squad’s match against Bay FC.
Watt put two balls into the net in a three-minute span late in the first half but was flagged for being offside on both. She was clearly offside on the first attempt, but the second one was extremely close as shown by multiple replay angles.
Anna Moorhouse had four saves for Orlando.
Racing Louisville 1, Chicago Stars 1
Bethany Balcer scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage time as Louisville earned the tie against visiting Chicago.
Balcer was in position near the net when the pass from Janine Sonis came in her direction. She put her left foot on the ball and knocked it into the upper portion of the net for Racing Louisville (9-9-6, 33 points), who are undefeated over their past three matches (2-0-1).
Jameese Joseph scored for last-place Chicago (2-11-11, 17 points). The Stars are winless in their past five matches (0-2-3).
The match was scoreless in the 85th minute when Ivonne Chacon slid the ball from the left side to the right. Joseph arrived just as the ball neared and she delivered a right-footed shot into the left corner of the goal to put Chicago ahead.
Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher made eight saves, including a big stop on Ella Hase’s shot in the fourth minute.
Jordyn Bloomer’s only save for Louisville was a crucial one as she stopped Ally Schlegel’s header in the 54th minute.
Bay FC 1, Seattle Reign 1
Jess Fishlock scored in the 84th minute to help Seattle rally to earn a tie with visiting Bay FC.
The Reign trailed for more than 50 minutes before landing the equalizer after Bay FC failed to clear the ball. It went right to Fishlock in front of the net and she booted in a left-footed shot for Seattle (9-7-8, 35 points), which is tied for fourth place with Gotham FC.
Taylor Huff scored the goal for 13th-place Bay FC (4-12-8, 20 points), who saw their winless streak reach 13 games (0-8-5). Bay FC hasn’t won since beating Portland on June 7.
Jordan Silkowitz recorded three saves for Bay FC, while Seattle counterpart Claudia Dickey had two stops.
Huff scored in the 31st minute off a pass from Racheal Kundananji.
Kundananji had the ball on the right side and sent a cross to the left as the wide open Huff dashed toward the net. Huff arrived to send a close-range left-footed shot that hit off the hands of Dickey and found the higher portion of the net.
The Reign nearly tied the match six minutes later. Nerilia Mondesir found an open crease directly in front of the net but her right-footed shot caromed off the left goalpost.
Huff nearly had a second goal in the 75th minute. She was to the left of the net and sent a hard right-footer that went just over the top right corner.
–Field Level Media
