Orlando City SC Remains Unbeaten in 1-1 Draw Against D.C. United

March 11, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Orlando City SC News Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Orlando City SC (1-0-2, 5 points) battled to a 1-1 draw with D.C. United (1-1-1, 4 points) on Saturday night in the nation’s capital. The Lions were backed by a second-half finish from Duncan McGuire, scoring his first professional goal in what also served as his professional debut. McGuire was selected by the Club at No. 6 overall at the 2023 MLS SuperDraft out of Creighton University.

Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese had another strong showing for the Lions, tallying four saves for the side including two point-blank stops to keep the Black and Red off the board. With D.C. United’s finish in the second half, the Lions’ Club-record shutout streak to start a campaign came to an end at 394 minutes.

City now turns its attention to the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, set to host Tigres UANL in Leg 2 of the Round of 16 on Wednesday, March 15 at Exploria Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET with tickets available here.

Scoring Summary:

53′ Duncan McGuire (Dagur Dan Thórhallsson, Kyle Smith) – ORL 1, DC 0

The Lions took the lead thanks to a cross from the right flank from Kyle Smith, finding the head of Dagur Dan Thórhallsson. The Icelandic was able to direct it across the face of goal to the foot of Duncan McGuire for the tap-in finish.

80′ Chris Durkin (Pedro Santos) – ORL 1, DC 1

The home side leveled with Pedro Santos finding Chris Durkin at the edge of the area, who cut it back to his left foot before firing a shot inside the far post.

Head Coach Oscar Pareja:

“We did expect the game in the second half to have more volume and more action in front of the net. We knew the defense from the first half would reveal some possibilities because we played with one more defender and one less attacker, but we wanted to have solidness. We wanted to see if we could create more sequences around, in the flanks. I think we did with maybe not as much consistency. In the second half when we made the change of the model and we made the change of the personnel, we knew that this was going to surprise D.C. When that happened, I thought we looked much better. I think we had a couple more actions, we scored a goal and we accomplished that objective.”

Match Notes:

Duncan McGuire scored his first professional goal in what also served as his professional debut on the night, getting the startup top for the Lions. With the finish, McGuire becomes the first draft pick by the Lions in Club…