Yes, I would like to hear more myself. In my opinion, Sarah Hagen is not a speedster. She is not A-Rod or Alex Morgan. She is a target forward. She doesn't move her feet fast because she is so tall, she glides along the pitch, thus giving the perception that she's slow. But she covers a lot of ground quickly. She's not going to catch up to the fast pass passed in front of her on the ground that Morgan will. You will have to lift the ball in the air or get it to her feet if you want her to be effective. And she can be effective and she can score a lot of goals. But you can't play her like you would the typical speed demon forward.
That could be a problem for her in Orlando, then. If the first game was any indication, Sermanni wants to let the gazelles run up and down the pitch. He apparently has the horses (hehe) to get it done. That would make it difficult for Hagen to crack the lineup, I would think.
Tweet this afternoon that the Pride are reporting "over 18,000" ticket sold for the opener. Just got another email trying to sell me tickets.
Nothing official, just talking to an individual who got to see a good chunk of the Pride's preseason games. Their impression was that Hagen was being outperformed by the other forwards and didn't look as sharp as they did.
Sermanni said he started Spencer and Edmonds up top because he thought a quick front line was the best match up with Portland.
@CBrueyWFTV @USWNT23 @ORLPride @NWSL including season ticket members?— football fan (@futbollover_6) April 20, 2016
I'd say the 25,000 is now looking realistic, especially since they should get a decent amount of walk-up sales if the weather is good.
This morning on the radio they said there was an estimated 4,000 people at the open practice. I went last night and I was guessing 3-4,000. A lot of jerseys were sold. The team doesn't have that much apparel yet. Which is pretty smart, get those more expensive jerseys sold first.
Rawlins was on the radio this afternoon. He said the game was over 19,000 sold thus far, and he expects a walk up of around 1,500. Seems like there will be a big push the next few days, so it will be interesting to see the final number. He says he is very confident the record will fall. In other interesting news, he talked about the acquisition of Alex Morgan. He said they traded for Carrasco strictly for soccer reasons, not even considering the marriage. The team had already been talking about an NWSL team, but was thinking 2017 at the earliest because the front office had enough work getting the MLS team up to speed and they were working on OCB. But then Alex Morgan starting showing up to game to watch her husband play, and she expressed an interest in living in the same town as her husband. (What a concept!) After that things came together pretty quickly. The team said they would jump in early if they could get Morgan, and Portland and the league office were able to put together the deal pretty quickly. Sounds like Portland was not upset about the rebuilding path. Seems to have worked out well for both teams thus far.
Where did you see this? Only thing I read, was that two scarfs have a "golden ticket " for two tickets to the opener and to meet Alex Morgan.
I kicking myself this morning when I got to work, cause I didn't think they would do scarfs on the west side of town. But sure enough the retail area 3 minutes from my house had several.
If they are expecting walk-ups, then I'm hoping they open the Plaza Level for that. *checks TM* With what's left on Ticketmaster, we probably will sell out the lower bowl. That would be 23,444 seats in the lower bowl, not including the loge, the suites, or the ADA seating.
add in a few thousands in the small section they're opening in the upper bowl, and I'd say we see around 27,000 tonight. Weather looks good, so I'd expect a good amount of walk ups.
The @ORLPride preview section is out today! 4 page special section inside @orlandosentinel, go grab one 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/XIqwYtSS0u— Alicia Del Gallo (@OSAliciaD) April 23, 2016 In the past most newspapers couldnt bother to print the scores. Maybe things r on the up tick.
Who ever expected lines for merchandise for a women's professional team would look like this? One of many.
And I bet every single one would've preferred to have been able to buy their merchandise online weeks ago rather than having to stand in that line...
Steven Goff @SoccerInsider 9m NWSL-record 23,403 attendance at Citrus Bowl for @ORLPride's inaugural home match, a 3-1 victory over @HoustonDash