NEW YORK — Adrian Heath had asked his Orlando City players to be tougher as a defensive unit after giving up a combined three goals and settling for a pair of draws in their first two games.

They responded to their head coach’s message just about as well as they could have.

Orlando City picked up its first win of the season on Friday night and remained unbeaten by going into Yankee Stadium and defeating New York City FC, 1-0. Cyle Larin was once again the man of the hour for the Lions after scoring his third goal of the campaign in the sixth minute, but it was the defense that really stood out against NYCFC.

Orlando was under pressure for much of the 90 minutes, but held firm against an NYCFC side that desperately searched for an equalizer. Heath’s team had some trouble on the flanks and did give up a couple of good looks on goal, but the midfield and back four did well to thwart most of the waves of attacks that New York City FC sent their way.

A textbook example of the defense bending but not breaking.

“I thought our midfield was a lot more combative than they have been the last couple of weeks, and I thought we defended the (18-yard) box really well,” said Heath. “It was a case of all hands to the pump at times, but we managed it.”

One of the key players for Orlando City’s defensive success was midfielder Cristian Higuita, who was making a second consecutive start after missing the season opener due to suspension. Higuita seemed to be all over the field breaking up plays for the still-Kaka-less Lions, who lost the possession battle by a 66-34 mark and faced 16 shots.

With help from the four other midfielders in Heath’s 4-2-3-1 formation, the Colombian did a fine job of limiting the impact of central players like attacking midfielder Mix Diskerud and deep-lying maestro Andrea Pirlo. NYCFC was forced to try and find success out wide as a result, but the Orlando City defense cleaned things up from there.

“It was one of his better games,” said Heath of Higuita’s performance. “He started a little bit slow, and I thought tonight it was a bit more like his old self. He was very combative, terrific energy all over the place. I was pleased with him. Hopefully that’s the start to him starting off again.”

Added Higuita: “More than anything else, it was about marking Pirlo because we know the quality he has as a player, the way he can hit long balls. We did a good job.”

Orlando City may have done a solid job of limiting the service that NYCFC star striker David Villa got, but still could have surrendered an equalizer to Diskerud on a couple of close-range efforts. Thankfully for the Lions, starting goalkeeper Joe Bendik came up huge both times.

The first play was in the 17th minute on one of a trio of nifty corner kicks executed by NYCFC. Patrick Vieira’s men crowded the near post on the play, but Pirlo whipped the ball in to the far post, where a streaking and uncovered Diskerud raced to. Diskerud unleashed a canon of a volley, but Bendik made himself big enough to block the shot with his chest.

Bendik gave Diskerud even more nightmares at the hour-mark. After a nice give-and-go led to Villa finding Diskerud clean through on goal, Bendik reacted remarkably to get down and paw away the would-be equalizer.

New York City FC and its fans were left in disbelief.

“I saw (Villa) slip the ball through, and came out and set myself up,” said Bendik. “Luckily, (Diskerud) put it exactly where I was thinking.”

The defensive showing on Friday may have given Orlando City its first victory of the season, but maybe just as importantly has given the Lions plenty of confidence to take going into their upcoming bye week and beyond.

Posting a shutout can do wonders for a team’s morale, and the Lions are certainly on a high right now after doing just that in a match that saw them on the backfoot for much of the 90 minutes.

“Everyone is happy,” said Larin. “It’s a good three points for us. First win and we haven’t lost yet, and that’s a good thing.”