Alex Morgan and Marta lead Orlando's NWSL charge

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Sep 4, 2017

The hottest team in the NWSL is the Orlando Pride, which has won five straight games and all but ended the suspense in the 2017 playoff race. Alex Morgan, who announced she will remain in the NWSL instead of returning to French club Lyon, and Marta make the Pride a formidable postseason threat.



Playoff picture. Rookie Rachel Hill had two goals on Saturday night as the Pride beat the Boston Breakers, 4-2, at rain-soaked Orlando City Stadium. Marta and Chioma Ubogagu had the other goals for the Pride, which is tied for third place with Chicago, five points ahead of fifth-place Seattle and six ahead of sixth-place Sky Blue FC with three games to play in the regular season.

'We were slick.' "I thought the first 30 minutes we were superb," said Pride head coach Tom Sermanni said. "I thought that's probably the best 30 minutes that we've had this season. We were slick, movement was great, we were creating chances. We really dominated the game. But we need to be probably a little bit better when we’re not going through those spells and we’re playing really well. I think we were playing really well. We played some fantastic football."

NWSL's best attack. North Carolina and Portland have both clinches playoff spots, but the team to watch is Orlando. Marta (12 goals, 6 assists in 20 games) and Morgan (8 goals, 3 assists in 10 games) have had a role in 12 of the Pride’s last 15 goals. Orlando leads the NWSL with 41 goals, more than double the 20 goals it scored in 2016, its first season in the league.

Postseason showcase. The Pride will get a chance to clinch a playoff berth when it host Seattle next Saturday. After that, it will get a chance to show its playoff mettle when it plays Portland and North Carolina in its final two regular-season games.