Courtesy of Orlando Pride
It took a second-half substitution along with a late equalizer from Taylor Kornieck to power the Orlando Pride to a 1-1 draw against the Houston Dash on Sunday afternoon at Exploria Stadium.
“In general, looking back on the game I think we put ourselves in a hole a little bit,” interim coach Becky Burleigh said after the game. “Our start was not what we would hope for, but for the team to battle back and to deal with that adversity and for the people who came into the match, I thought there were some really strong performances from the reserves. I’d like to shout out Erin McLeod, that’s a tough situation to go into and her composure was incredible. Obviously Taylor [Kornieck] gets a goal coming off the bench, I thought Toni Pressley played a big role coming off the bench as well. It’s great to see our reserves making such an impact.”
Houston opened the scoring when a ball slipped in by Shea Groom was badly cleared off a heavy touch from Ali Riley, opening up the opportunity for Rachel Daly to hit the ball from close and past Ashlyn Harris to give the Dash the 1-0 lead in the 10th minute.
In the 37th minute, the Dash continued with a wave of attacks that saw Harris produce a trio of saves to prevent the visitors from doubling the lead, including a diving stop to deny Kristie Mewis.
Harris would leave the match at the 64th minute after suffering an upper-body injury around the neck/head area during a Houston corner kick. Canadian Olympic gold medalist, Erin McLeod would come in for Harris.
The equalizer came in the 79th minute when Taylor Kornieck, who entered the match in the 74th minute, headed in a ball from Meggie Dougherty Howard, past the goalkeeper to tie the game 1-1 for Orlando.
Up next…
The Pride take on Racing Louisville on Saturday at Exploria Stadium at 7 p.m. The match will stream live on Paramount+.
Scoring Summary
10′ – Rachel Daly (HOU)
79′ – Taylor Kornieck, assisted by Meggie Dougherty Howard (ORL)
How the Pride lined up
Orlando Pride XI: Ashlyn Harris – c (Erin McLeod, 67′); Ali Riley, Amy Turner (Toni Pressley, 73′), Ali Krieger, Phoebe McClernon (Taylor Kornieck, 74′); Gunny Jónsdóttir, Meggie Dougherty Howard (Kylie Strom, 90+7′), Marta; Sydney Leroux, Erika Tymrak (Marisa Viggiano, 67′), Jodie Taylor.
Substitutes: Ally Haran, Parker Roberts, Chelsee Washington, Crystal Thomas.
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