The annual rock fight between Orlando and the “New York” team that actually plays in New Jersey produced slightly more elegant soccer than recent years, but the Lions continued to have difficulty connecting the final pass and making good on it. In the most Lions-Red Bulls way possible, a Lewis Morgan penalty was negated by a late Noah Eile own goal forced by Jack Lynn and the teams split the points.

The announced crowd of 23,859 provided the usual raucousness that Orlando is known for. The match also saw the return of PRO referees, greeted in the warmest and most appreciative way by the crowd. Since it was “Kids Night,” with kids participating as announcers, among other things, the young voices interjected to attempt tamp down some of the less child-friendly cheers to create an unusually surreal environment.

We hope you enjoy the pictures from Saturday’s game. The Lions now enjoy a much-needed week off, returning to play April 13 at D.C. United.

The Orlando Pride (0-0-3, 3 points) benefited from an own goal to take a lead into the second half, but could not hold their first lead of the season, allowing the Chicago Red Stars (2-0-1, 7 points) to steal a point. Overall, the Pride showed continued growth and cohesiveness, generally controlling most of the game except for a spell at the start of the second half. The trouble continues to be scoring goals, but Barbra Banda’s arrival is approaching.

Adriana continually rampaged the right channel, and she, Marta, and Angelina all showed signs of chemistry, but the team is still not connecting quite precisely enough to create sustained danger, and failed to finish its chances against the opposition from the Windy City. Summer Yates came on in the 71st minute and lived up to the ‘game changer’ moniker that is trendy around the league this year, creating several dangerous chances, including a potential red card that was not given even after a lengthy video review by both the video assistant referee and the match referee.

Overall, the Pride are showing more talent and promise early in the season so far this year than they have for several years, and will try again for their first win of the season when they visit the Utah Royals in two weeks.

We hope you enjoy the photos from the game and please let me know if there is something more or less that you want to see in these galleries (like more or fewer crowd shots or warmups). The Pride will return home against San Diego on April 19.

Orlando City hosted Liga MX side UANL Tigres late Tuesday night in another Concacaf Champions Cup battle of the big cats, and once again both sides walked away stymied after a physical but scoreless draw. The Lions’ defense returned from its weekend hiatus and stifled the midfield, forcing Tigres talisman André-Pierre Gignac to to drop deep to get on the ball and restricting him to only one off-target shot.

The crowd was a little underwhelming for such a big match, likely due in large part to the 9 p.m. weeknight start (Concacaf, sigh). However, the supporters in The Wall brought their usual passion, making for a lively atmosphere without the hijinks of last year’s clash.

With the draw, the Lions can advance in the tournament with a win, a draw with goals scored (due to the away goals rule), or a 0-0 draw and advancing on penalties in the return fixture of next Tuesday. El Volcán is a hostile environment to be sure, but the Lions have already earned a result there with last year’s draw, so this is within the Lions’ paws if they perform at the level they have hinted they are capable of. But first they have to face a Minnesota team that has started the season hotter than expected in MLS play on Saturday.

We hope you enjoy these images from the continental competition, despite the lack of goals.