The Orlando Pride desperately needed a victory, and for most of Friday’s NWSL home match against the North Carolina Courage, they looked likely to finally get one.

Instead, a late goal gave eighth-place North Carolina (7-7-7, 28 points) a 1-0 victory and extended Orlando’s winless run in league play to nine games, leaving the seventh-place Pride (8-8-5, 29 points) in danger of missing the playoffs.

“Disappointed in the result, but not the performance. Between the two halves, I thought we put some really good pressure on, forcing a lot of turnovers, a lot of errors,” Orlando coach Seb Hines said. “I sound like a broken record, but it’s fine margins again. We were so close to scoring, but [North Carolina] cleared two goals off the line, and it’s just not meant to be right now.”

Neithe

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