Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines
On the result
“Happy to get the result, happy to get the clean sheet. You know, a one-nil victory is getting back to who we are as a team, being hard to play against. Defensively, we looked a lot more solid than we did last week. And yeah, it took a moment of brilliance from Barbra, and I’m happy to see the ball hit the back of the net.”
On the defensive shape
“We talked a lot about being compact, not being too spread out when the opponent has the ball, working together, working as units and minimizing the amount of space that they could operate in. We worked on that all week, and you could see that today — the players implemented it terrifically well. I would have liked to have seen it a little bit more in transition, but credit to them, they stuck to the game plan, they implemented it. It’s not always pretty football; it was a bit of a grind at times. Backs against the wall, the rain’s coming down, they’re delivering balls into the box and we’re heading it out, thinking about second balls and stuff. So yeah, we could obviously play a lot better — everyone’s seen that — but I think today was more about the result than the performance.”
On the shifts to the backline
“In the last couple of games, we’ve conceded seven goals in two games, so we just felt we needed to make a shift in the back line. Cori Dyke has played center back for me in previous games and previous seasons, so we felt comfortable putting her alongside Rafaelle. Hailie Mace is a new player to the club, so just finding a bit more comfort with her playing as a right back. And then Oihane, before she came to Orlando, had played left back as well. So we just felt we needed to shift a little bit — not change the personnel but shift the personnel within the shape — and I felt they did a terrific job today. Obviously, not giving away too many shots and only having to make one save"
Orlando Pride Goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse
On the result
“It’s good to get the win and get back to winning ways after a tough loss last weekend. We’re just happy to get that win and show the work that we’ve been putting in all week.”
On the defensive performance
“It’s getting back to what we do best. Honestly, we’re a team that’s historically hard to break down, and we wanted to get back to that. We’ve been working on that all week, so it’s nice to see that work show in the game, and we had to really stick it out at the end.”
On the lineup changes
“I trust everyone that comes into this team to do their job and do a role. I don’t think it matters where anyone in the backline plays, or where any player plays on the pitch — we’re going to give 100 percent and give everything to the team and for this club. It’s just nice that we stuck together, rode those changes and came out with a clean sheet.”
Orlando Pride Midfielder Angelina
On the result
"A really tough match, physically. It was very demanding, but we were very compact. We were very disciplined on the defensive side, and the opportunities that we had, we were very close. They had good saves, and Barbra was very happy to conclude the last shot.”
On the halftime message
“Honestly, to be switched on from the beginning. We know that in past games we’ve been scored on pretty early coming back from the half, so that was a big goal for us — to come out disciplined and switched on so we could be focused from the beginning, and that’s what we did today. From the beginning to the end, we were very focused, we were very disciplined and we were very together on our goal today.”
On the momentum with the result
“For sure. We definitely needed the win. We’ve been through tough paths and tough games, but we needed this win at home with our fans, and it definitely gives us momentum going into a tough week. We’re going to have three away games, but we needed this. I feel like we have togetherness, we have the focus now to build good momentum and win three points away too.”
