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Orlando Pride vs. Houston Dash: Final Score 3-1 as Pride Turnovers a Factor in First Fall Series Loss

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4 years ago

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A soft second-half penalty allowed the Houston Dash to snap a 1-1 tie and go on to a 3-1 win over the Orlando Pride (0-1-1, 1 point) at BBVA Stadium in Houston, TX. Nichelle Prince and Marisa Viggiano canceled out each other’s goals in the first half, but Sophie Schmidt’s penalty kick put Houston (1-1-0, 3 points) ahead in the second half and Shea Groom added an insurance goal for the final margin.

Orlando was dominated all match long and spent the majority of it in its own half of the field. Houston’s press created some issues but several turnovers were unforced as well and the Pride opted not to bypass the press by playing over it.

“They’ve got to take responsibility to go forward, to move the ball quicker, and play around and we were miles off that tonight,” Pride Head Coach Marc Skinner said after the game. “I think it was just the players not taking ownership of the moments that were happening in front of them, and and that’s a decision-making factor.”

Skinner made a few changes to last weekend’s lineup at North Carolina, but not at the back, as Ashlyn Harris again started in goal behind a back line of Courtney Petersen, Toni Pressley, Ali Krieger, and Carrie Lawrence. The changes came further up the pitch, as he was forced to replace Sydney Leroux and Kristen Edmonds. Both veteran players opted out of the match due to concerns about the travel arrangements and timing of happenings in Houston, which included a Dash player testing positive for COVID-19.

“I support every single player’s decision from that perspective,” Skinner said.

“I don’t blame players just saying, ‘no, it’s not for me I’m not going,’” said Harris. “And that’s what Kristen and Syd did, and it sucks and this is the reality.” 

Savanah Uveges and Chelsee Washington got their first starts for the Pride in their places. Uveges started up top with Marta and Abby Elinsky, while Washington slotted into the midfield with Viggiano and Jordyn Listro. Skinner was left with just five players on his bench.

Marta got the first look for the Pride, fizzing a shot over the bar three minutes into the match. Then she sent a nice ball around the defense in the 10th minute to Elinsky but she couldn’t control it and Jane Campbell came off her line to smother it.

But the rest of the first half belonged primarily to the Dash. Houston pressed high and simply waited for Orlando to implode and it happened a lot. The Pride gave the ball away much too cheaply and often when not even under any pressure to do so. Bad back passes, wayward forward passes, and simple passes up the line that skipped out of play kept giving Houston the ball. The Dash had just over half the possession but when they did have the ball, they were usually picking it up in the attacking half. Meanwhile, the Pride’s possession consisted almost entirely of trying to escape their own defensive third in the opening half.

In the 13th minute, the turnovers started and they continued throughout the half. Groom jumped on a giveaway and cut in on goal. Harris came out and made a vital block to keep the game scoreless.

In the 15th minute, Prince dribbled across the top of the area and sent a weak shot through traffic. Harris didn’t see it right away and made a sprawling save, spilling the ball back into the six. Her defense came to her rescue, clearing the ball out off of a Houston attacker to win a goal kick.

Listro gave the ball away in the 20th minute and Veronica Latsko sent a shot toward Harris’ goal but it sailed over. Then a weak back pass from Pressley gifted Groom the ball in close and Harris was forced to come out and make a sliding challenge. Harris then made another big save on the follow-up shot to hold Houston at bay.

In the 27th minute, Houston manufactured the game’s opening goal from their own defensive third. Sophie Schmidt sent a simple long ball over the top. Prince ran past Orlando’s static back line, got on the end of the pass, and chipped it over Harris to make it 1-0.

The Dash kept coming, with Prince fizzing a dangerous cross through the box in the 39th minute but it was too far in front of her teammates. Two minutes later, Houston sent another ball into the area, forcing Pressley to clear it out for a corner. On the set piece, the ball ping-ponged off a few players and fell for Groom, who sent in a dribbler of a shot that was easy for Harris to scoop up.

Latsko fired off target from a tight angle in the 45th minute after Orlando again turned the ball over in its own end.

But in stoppage time, the Pride manufactured a goal. Washington got the ball in midfield and fed a nice ball down the left for Viggiano. The second-year pro dribbled into the area, cut to her right and slotted home past Campbell off the near post and in to make it 1-1 in the third minute of stoppage.

“I think we had a really good build-up down the left-hand side,” Viggiano said. “I saw Marta making a run and I think that made the defender hold off a little bit, which gave me space. And I saw the near post. This time I shot it low. And I think it hit the post and went in.”

Viggiano’s goal was just about the last kick of the first half. Overall, it was a poor half for the Pride in terms of game play but they were all even after 45 minutes.

Houston led in shots (11-3), shots on goal (5-1), corners (3-0), possession (53.8%-46.2%), and passing accuracy (84.6%-79.4%) but the Pride were improbably level at the half.

The Dash regained the lead early in the second half on a penalty kick. Houston sent a ball into the Orlando box over the top and Viggiano and Groom got a little tangled up but quickly separated. Groom made a lot out of the little contact, stumbling for several steps before going to ground. The referee bought it and awarded the spot kick. Sophie Schmidt fired it into the upper right side of the net past Harris to make it 2-1 in the 55th minute.

“[Groom] made a run and I tracked her,” Viggiano said of the penalty call. “I’m just going for the ball. I’ll have to watch it back and do better in that situation next time it happens and, you know, learn from it, grow from it, and just be better in that situation next game.”

The Dash continued to get looks on goal and free possessions due to the generous gift-giving of Orlando’s back line and midfield, who didn’t seem in sync at all. Prince cut across the top of the area and fired wide in the 59th minute and then Harris made another huge save in the 60th after Kristie Mewis took advantage of another Orlando turnover and fired a shot that forced a diving stop.

Katie Naughton nodded off the top of the bar a minute later off the ensuing corner kick. And a moment later Harris had to stop Mewis after Lawrence coughed up the ball in her own end. Harris stopped Groom in the 69th minute off a set piece as the shots kept raining down on her net.

Orlando finally got a chance in the 70th minute after a corner kick, with rookie Konya Plummer getting a touch on a recycled ball following Houston’s initial clearance. But the Jamaican center back didn’t make good contact and the shot skipped wide.

Groom added insurance by being the first to the ball pinging around Orlando’s penalty area in the 72nd minute. The Dash won a corner when Mewis again sliced right through the Pride defense to get in behind. Harris came far off her line but was beaten in the open field. Mewis sent the ball toward goal and Krieger knocked it out for the corner, narrowly missing her own net in the process.

On the ensuing set piece, Harris got a hand on the cross to knock it out to her left, but the Dash got to it first and sent it back into the area, where it ricocheted around until Groom got onto it and sent it in to make it 3-1.

That was about it, as the only question became whether Houston would add a fourth. Orlando never really threatened goal in the second half.

The Pride were out-shot by an incredible 27-6 margin (11-2 on goal). Houston won more corners (9-3), saw more of the ball (56.6%-43.4%), and was the more accurate passing club (85.1%-77.5%).

“Look, the players tried really hard tonight,” Skinner said. “There’s no denying they’ve physically grown and they gave everything that they needed to give from that perspective. But we weren’t intelligent without the ball enough tonight, we weren’t intelligent with the ball enough, and looked a little bit disconnected tonight.”

The Pride will have an opportunity for revenge in their next match on Friday, Oct. 9 at Osceola County Stadium, when they’ll host the Dash at 5 p.m.

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Orlando Pride Announce 2025 Preseason Camp Roster

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1 day ago

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January 20, 2025

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Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

The Orlando Pride have announced the club’s 2025 preseason roster consisting of 30 players, with one of those (Mariana Larroquette) currently out on loan in Argentina. Another player, forward Amanda Allen, was formerly on loan with the USL Super League’s Lexington Sporting Club, but that loan was terminated when Allen was placed on the Season Ending Injury list on Dec. 9, 2024, with a torn labrum.

The Pride return all of their core players from the 2024 team that won the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship, including 98% of the player-minutes from last season and all of the team’s goal-scoring from a year ago. Almost all of the players who competed in the team’s incredible season are back from a team that broke league records for points, wins, clean sheets, consecutive shutout minutes, consecutive wins, and consecutive games unbeaten.

New faces for 2025 include two off-season signees — goalkeeper Kat Asman and defender Zara Chavoshi, the first player the Pride signed directly out of college since the league’s removal of the NWSL Draft. 

The roster is made up of four goalkeepers, just eight defenders (compared to 12 a year ago), nine midfielders, and nine forwards. One of those forwards, Larroquette, is on loan with Newell’s Old Boys Women of the Campeonato de Fútbol Femenino in Argentina’s top flight. 

The 30-player roster includes three non-roster invitees: goalkeeper DeAira Jackson, midfielder Aryssa Mahrt, and forward Simone Jackson.

DeAira Jackson was the 2024 WAC Goalkeeper of the Year and a member of the All-WAC first team following her last collegiate season. After playing two seasons at Cal State Fullerton, she transferred to Grand Canyon University and became the school’s all-time shutout leader with 16 in just two seasons. Nine of those came in her senior campaign, which set the school record for most clean sheets in a season. She was also the Outrigger No Ka Oi Tournament MVP and a two-time WAC Player of the Week in 2024. The Fontana, CA native appeared in 43 matches for Grand Canyon across two seasons, compiling a record of 25-11-7, the aforementioned 16 shutouts, a 0.89 goals-against average and a save percentage of .781, facing 415 shots in 3,754 minutes.

Mahrt played three seasons at the University of Wisconsin, appearing in 62 games (61 starts) and playing 4,503 minutes. The Milwaukee, WI native scored 21 goals and added 15 assists, putting 78 of her 114 shots on target. Eight of her goals were game winners. Mahrt started all 21 games in her senior season, leading the Badgers in goals (10) and assists (4). She has represented the United States at the youth level with both the U-14 and U-16 sides. Her soccer lineage includes a great grandfather who played for the Malaysian National Team.

Simone Jackson is a Redondo Beach, CA native who played four seasons at USC, appearing in 73 games (51 starts), scoring 22 goals, and adding 13 assists. In 4,204 career minutes, she fired 192 shots, putting 88 on target and scoring six game winners. She was a member of the All-Big Ten third team following the 2024 campaign, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2022, a third-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2023 and 2021, and a 2021 Pac 12 All-Freshman Team honoree. She has represented the U.S. at multiple youth levels, including at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, in which she scored for the United States in a 3-1 loss to Japan. Jackson has also participated at every level starting at U-14.

Simone comes from a family with a tremendous athletic pedigree. Her grandfather, John Jackson, was USC football’s running backs coach and offensive coordinator from 1976-81; her father, John Jackson Jr., played both football and baseball at USC from 1986-89 before brief stints with four NFL teams in the 1990s and playing minor league baseball. Her brother, John Jackson III, played wide receiver at USC and is currently with the Chicago Bears organization.

The club’s two Zambian players — Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda — are the only ones listed as internationals. Unlike previous years, no players are listed as not yet reported.

The Pride will kick off their 2025 campaign with a rematch of the 2024 NWSL Championship as they face the Washington Spirit in the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup on March 7.

2025 Orlando Pride Preseason Roster (as of Jan. 20, 2025):

Goalkeepers (4): Kat Asman, McKinley Crone, Anna Moorhouse, DeAira Jackson (NRI).

Defenders (8): Kerry Abello, Zara Chavoshi, Cori Dyke, Brianna Martinez, Carson Pickett, Rafaelle (SEI), Emily Sams, Kylie Strom.

Midfielders (9): Angelina, Grace Chanda (INTL – Zambia, SEI), Morgan Gautrat, Ally Lemos, Luana (SEI), Aryssa Mahrt (NRI), Marta, Haley McCutcheon, Viviana Villacorta.

Forwards (9): Adriana, Amanda Allen (SEI), Barbra Banda (INTL – Zambia), Simone Charley (SEI), Julie Doyle, Simone Jackson (NRI), Mariana Larroquette (LOAN), Ally Watt, Summer Yates.

Key

INTL: International Player
NRI: Non-Roster Invitee
NYR: Not Yet Reported
SEI: Finished 2024 on the Season-Ending Injury list
LOAN: On loan 

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Orlando Pride

Pride Ready to Make a Run for the 2025 Title with a Core from 2024

Comparing and analyzing the percentage of returning minutes and goals for the Pride to those of previous NWSL playoff champions.

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4 days ago

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January 18, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

During my son’s soccer practice earlier this week I was walking around the park and came upon a basketball court where there was a game going on. One team made a basket to win the game, and a player from the losing team immediately yelled out a phrase that is familiar to anyone who has ever played pickup. “Run that back,” the player said, indicating that they wanted to play another game right away with the same players. The winning team acquiesced, and off they went. Off I went as well, as I did not want to make it awkward by standing there continuing to watch 10 people I did not even know playing pickup hoops in Winter Park.

It was probably already awkward. Oh well.

It was fitting, however, that those players were talking about running it back while I was around a soccer practice, because just a few miles away — in Sylvan Lake Park — the Orlando Pride are preparing for their 2025 NWSL season. And now that Marta has re-signed with the club for two more seasons, the Pride are bringing back nearly every player from the 2024 season. It is not everyone, but the Pride are bringing back a cool 98% of all the minutes played during the 2024 NWSL regular season.

Only four players who played any minutes during that season have departed — Carrie Lawrence (288 minutes), Evelina Duljan (174), Celia (74), and Mariana Larroquette (52), though she is only on loan and is scheduled to be back in the summer, taking their combined five starts and 593 minutes with them — but that leaves more than 25,000 of the 2024 minutes played returning to the Pride for 2025.

Throughout the 2024 season we received indications that the front office really liked the makeup of the group already on hand, as during the year they signed McKinley Crone, Julie Doyle, Cori Dyke, Morgan Gautrat, Brianna Martinez, Viviana Villacorta, Ally Watt, and Summer Yates to new contracts. Most of these were completed in the early to middle part of the season, so even before the team had clinched the regular-reason title and entered the playoffs it was clear that the club felt like it had a good mix of players for the present and the future.

All of these players already being under contract through at least 2025 have made for a very quiet off-season for the Pride so far, and then when Marta made her announcement last week, it cemented the incredibly high percentage of returning minutes. “How high,” you ask in your best Redman or Method Man voice? I already mentioned it was 98%, but of all the NWSL teams who have ever won a championship, that 98% ranks first for returning minutes and represents one of only two seasons when the champion brought back more than 90% of the team’s minutes played from its championship season.

Because the Pride brought back nearly all of their minutes played, it should not be a surprise that they also brought back nearly all of the goals they scored. Except they did not bring back nearly all of the goals they scored, they brought back all 43 of the goals (excluding own goals) they scored during the 2024 season. All of them! The Pride are the first playoff champion in NWSL history to return 100% of the goals scored during their championship season, as you can see from this chart below, which details each playoff champion and the percentage of minutes and goals that returned for the subsequent season. It also shows what place the team finished during the subsequent regular season and playoffs:

The 2018 Courage are clearly the closest proxy to the 2024 Pride, and I like what I see when I look off to the right in that chart, because that team brought back almost all of its minutes and goals and then went ahead and finished first during the subsequent regular season and won it all during the playoffs. I am not saying that the Pride will do the same in 2025, but I am not not saying it either. Give me a few weeks to get my preseason predictions in order and I may actually say it loudly and (being that they are the Pride) proudly.

There are counterexamples as well, as the 2016 Western New York Flash (who became the North Carolina Courage in 2017), 2021 Washington Spirit, and 2022 Portland Thorns all brought back more than 80% of their minutes and 90% of their goals and did not win the playoffs, but both teams were highly successful during the subsequent regular season and won playoff games, though they did not repeat as champions.

One of the more interesting things about the 2025 Pride will be that they will have tremendous continuity with all of their returning minutes and goals, but they will also have continuity with four players who were with the club in 2024 but did not play or barely played due to injury/illness. Neither Simone Charley nor Grace Chanda suited up for the Pride at all last season, but both are experienced players who had been expected to contribute to the team before their injuries. Luana and Viviana Villacorta both did play a little bit — Luana in the beginning of the season and Villacorta at the end. Luana had been starting before her diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma ended her 2024 season, and Villacorta played more than 1,000 minutes during each of the 2022 and 2023 seasons before an injury kept her out for most of 2024.

All four of these players are currently listed on the 2025 roster, and as they return to full fitness it will almost be like four brand new signings of players who are clearly NWSL quality players, providing not only depth but also pushing the starters to stay sharp, lest they lose their role to someone challenging for their minutes. Brand new signings often take time to settle in, but these four will be familiar with the club, the coaches, and their teammates, which a huge advantage for the Pride.

Former NBA coach and current front office executive Pat Riley coined the phrase “the disease of more” to reflect what often happens to championship teams during the year after they win their title, as players want more for themselves, be it credit, media coverage, playing time, money, status, etc. Riley said that “success is often the first step toward disaster,” and while I quibble with the word “often” in that quote, I do think it can be true in sports. The Pride will get everyone’s best shot (figuratively, and sometimes literally) in 2025, and to repeat as champions they will have to do a lot of what they did in 2024 while also evolving some as well.

Bringing back nearly all of the same players helps with the repeating of last season’s excellent form, and “adding” those injured players who did not play last season, plus rookie defender Zara Chavoshi and free agent goalkeeper Kat Asman, will bring some new vibes and claws-sharpening-claws energy to the 2025 squad.

The Pride’s season kicks off in early March, and while the roster could still change in the next seven weeks, I think that it is likely that who they have right now is who will be wearing purple in the opening match.

I am looking forward to seeing them run it back while going on a title run.

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Orlando Pride Loan Forward Mariana Larroquette to Newell’s Old Boys Women

The Argentine forward is going home to get some minutes until July 1.

Published

6 days ago

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January 16, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

The Orlando Pride announced today that forward Mariana Larroquette is going on loan to Newell’s Old Boys Women in her native Argentina until July 1. The move will keep the seldom-used attacker out of the Pride lineup until midseason, but she’ll be able to get some playing time that could prove beneficial to Orlando in the season’s second half.

“We’re excited to find an opportunity for ‘Larro’ to gain meaningful minutes while also being an ambassador for the women’s game in her home country Argentina, as they get set to host the CONMEBOL Championships this summer,” Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director Haley Carter said in a club press release. “This will be a great move for her both professionally and personally, and we’re excited to see what she achieves while on loan.” 

The Pride signed Larroquette on July 6, 2023 — just prior to her involvement in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup — on a contract through 2025. The former Club León, Sporting CP, and Kansas City forward and Argentine international was expected to bolster an Orlando attack that was in need of more goals. It hasn’t worked out that way, even though she scored her first Pride goal and added an assist in her first appearance with Orlando in a 5-0 destruction of the Chicago Red Stars at home on Aug. 20, 2023. That remains her only NWSL goal since joining Orlando.

The 32-year-old made just four appearances during the 2024 regular season — all off the bench — logging 48 total minutes. She did not contribute a goal or an assist or even attempt a shot. Larroquette completed just 41.2% of her 17 passes. She started once in three appearances in the 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, playing 107 minutes without a goal contribution and attempting three shots. Larroquette did not appear in the Pride’s postseason run to the NWSL Championship.

In her Pride career so far, Larroquette has made just 12 appearances in all competitions, starting just one time, scoring one goal, and contributing one assist.

What It Means for Orlando

Ultimately, this is a chance for Larroquette to get some minutes and perhaps improve her form. Although she provided depth last season, she was rarely used. Playing for the Lepers (seriously, that’s the team’s nickname, which is even stranger than Newell’s Old Boys Women) will get Larroquette playing time in the Campeonato de Fútbol Femenino close to home. This could be the precursor to her departing Orlando for good if she isn’t a good fit for Seb Hines’ tactical approach. At 32, Larroquette is unlikely to bring a windfall to the Pride in a transfer, but she has shown she can be a useful player off the bench when needed in recent years, and has been able to contribute on the international level for Argentina.

This is a move that can help Larroquette re-establish her game and show whether she is still capable of providing offense to her club — whether that ends up being the Pride or another team. As she has not been seeing the field much, there shouldn’t be a big impact to Orlando while she’s away, and it is possible we’ve seen the last of her in a Pride uniform.

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