Ashlyn Harris found herself in a peculiar position.
Wednesday night was bittersweet for the former Orlando Pride goalkeeper and captain.
For the first time since the club’s inception, Harris represented the competition. She played against the team in purple — her hometown team — after spending the previous seven years here.
With 89 starts, 321 saves and repeated ups and downs, Harris, and her wife Ali Krieger, were traded this past offseason to Gotham FC. In return, Orlando received a draft pick that would become Julie Doyle, a third-round pick next year and $50,000 in allocation money.
Harris, now 36, starts a new chapter with Gotham, with the opening pages including a win against the Pride in the Challenge Cup.
Gotham pulled out the 1-0 victory over Orlando on Wednesday night after an 86th-minute goal by Midge Purce caught Orlando’s defense flat-footed. The win also included the first shutout for Harris with her new side.
Following the game, the Satellite Beach native reflected on her feelings about returning to the city that she called home for so many years.
“It was, like, weird. This is my home. This is my people and my city, and I love it so much, and it means so much to me. It was a really tough day. It sucked,” Harris said. “There’s no weird tension or anything. There’s so much love and respect there. Everything has to come to an end sometimes. So it is so lovely to be back and see all these familiar faces, people I genuinely care about.”
For more than 48 hours leading up to the game, Harris spent most of the time talking to her former teammate Sydney Leroux. She made 2 saves against her in the match.
“We were like, ‘Are we going to laugh? Are we going to cry?’ But we laughed a lot,” Harris said.
For Leroux and Harris, their competitive drive has pushed them over the years. As much as they enjoyed playing together with Orlando, they seemed to enjoy playing against each other even more.
“I love the battle with Ash,” Leroux said. “It reminded me of what we’ve always done, just go at each other.”
Said Harris: “It’s so much fun going against Syd. We’re so competitive. I feel like all game, we are just, like, ‘Let’s go,’ and that’s how we always did it. We would put each other on different teams. We love going against each other, so that kind of felt at home.”
Before she finished her thoughts, Harris turned to Leroux, who was in the same room, with a smile.
“Just looks like I was a little bit better today,” she said.
Harris and Gotham will play Orlando two more times during the next month. First, the Pride will travel to Red Bull Arena to play Gotham in the Challenge Cup.
The New Jersey-based team will come back May 1 to open the NWSL regular season in Orlando.
