CARY, N.C. — For the first time in Orlando Pride history a new coach opened with a point as Orlando Pride secured a 1-1 draw with North Carolina Courage at Wake Med Soccer Park on Saturday night.

An interception in the back allowed Orlando to open the scoring in the 50th minute. Ali Krieger stole possession and ran through the North Carolina half allowing her to send it to her left for Sydney Leroux who fired her shot perfectly out of the reach of the keeper.

That lead would only last for two minutes as Meredith Speck was able to find Brittany Ratcliffe who scored easily, which would end up being the last goal of the match.

Interim Head Coach Becky Burleigh rung the changes, setting up a new formation with three at the back, which was the first time the team had played in that shape all year.

"It's really impressive that this group played a system that they hadn't played, basically on really two days of training and the way they really put a lot of effort into what we did," said the new Head Coach.

Burleigh only had a week to work on the new shape so a point was impressive given a complete overhaul, especially given that it came on the road.

The point gets the Pride more on track with 17 points, just one point adrift of a playoffs place.

Photo courtesy Orlando Pride

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