Reign erase early deficit, but Barbra Banda’s goal keeps Pride unbeaten

At least Orlando had to work for it.

That was questionable the way the Reign opened their match against the Pride on Sunday. The visitors were up two goals before 30 minutes passed at Lumen Field.

The Reign fought to equalize. But Pride striker Barbra Banda only needs a sliver of space to get a good shot on frame. She curled one around her defender for the game-winner in the 58^th minute.

Banda’s brace gave Orlando a 3-2 win against the Reign — the Pride’s first at Lumen since the franchise was established in 2016.

“When we’re down, we tend to respond very well,” Reign coach Laura Harvey said. “That intensity that we show when we’re down, we have to start with. That to me is what good teams do. … What we have to solve is, if we play like we did for maybe 60 minutes of the game and turn that into 90, the results change because we played well, we did some good stuff.”

Orlando (7-0-3) is unbeaten and leads the NWSL standings. The Reign (2-7-1) are 13^th in the 14-team the league.

The Reign played the closing seven minutes Sunday with 10 players. Referee Elijio Arreguin showed Bethany Balcer a second yellow for dissent in the 83^rd minute and she was sent off. She was argumentative about a call but was already shown a yellow in the 46^th minute.

Balcer, who will be suspended for the club’s next match, opened the second half flying high. Teammate Jess Fishlock whipped a pass to her on the run. Balcer had her defender beat and was crafty in aiming a shot past Pride keeper Anna Moorhouse for an equalizer in the 48^th minute.

The forward spread her arms like an airplane as she celebrated the score with most of the 6,781 in attendance joining the fun.

Harvey made a tactical adjustment that helped improve her team’s play against Orlando, which is on a seven-game win streak.

Harvey subbed on defender Shae Holmes for Lu Barnes at halftime. The former University of Washington standout won a ball against Banda that started the counterattack for Seattle.

“Lu’s been sick all week, she’s had the flu,” Harvey said of her captain. “In hindsight it was probably one we should’ve kept her out. She wasn’t quite right.”

Reign center back Alana Cook returned from illness in time to help defend Banda. The Orlando attacker now has six goals and two assists in her first NWSL season.

But in trying to deny Banda touches, others will be open.

It was Pride defender Emily Sams on Sunday. She gathered a loose ball outside the box and didn’t hesitate in beaming it right at goal. The placement was just out of Reign keeper Laurel Ivory’s reach, giving Orlando its opening goal in the ninth minute.

The goal was Sams’ first of her career and first shot at goal.

Banda didn’t have to work hard for her first contribution to the match. The Zambian international was open at the far post to connect on a cross from forward Adriana and easily headed it into goal in the 18th minute — Cook turning around in time to watch.

A third goal in the 32^nd minute was waived off after review. Banda was in an offside position on her run during a free kick and her touch helped teammate Kylie Strom score off a header.

Seattle pulled one back in first-half stoppage time. Ji So-yun sent a cross into space that Angharad James-Turner utilized to loop a shot over Moorhouse. It was James-Turner’s first goal with the Reign.

“We do that in training a lot,” James-Turner said. “It changed the game. Coming in at the half with the one goal in hand gave us the energy that we needed. The second-half performance was positive. We’ve just got to get better at defending set pieces. Overall, we dominated the game.”

Orlando midfielder Angelina was unavailable Sunday due to a knee injury. The former Reign player left Seattle via free agency last winter.

Reign keeper Claudia Dickey (knee), Jordyn Huitema (back) and Quinn (knee) remain out due to injury. Harvey said Huitema is the closest to returning and that could be this week. Dickey and Quinn aren’t expected to be available to play until June.

Seattle travels to play the Washington Spirit on Friday. Harvey was succinct in stating what her team needs in order to turn the season around.

“Quality,” Harvey said. “The group has shown that they’re dedicated and they’re willing to work. … We’re in every game all the time. That’s what gets us out of bed every morning and makes us believe that we can come back and change the results.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Orlando beat the Storm, 3-2. Orlando beat the Reign.