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Orlando Pride vs. Portland Thorns FC: Final Score 2-0 as Pride Drop More Critical Points

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6 years ago

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The Orlando Pride dropped more crucial points at home, falling 2-0 to the Portland Thorns in a match with heavy playoff implications in front of an announced crowd of 6,012 at Orlando City Stadium. The Thorns (9-6-5, 32 points) came out of the locker room on fire to start the second half, getting goals from Lindsey Horan and Hayley Raso and went on to take three vital points to jump ahead of Orlando (8-7-6, 30 points) with a game in hand.

With just three regular-season games left, the Pride fall to fourth place, just a point ahead of Chicago, which has two games in hand.

“The second half it looked like we put a different team out on the park — same bodies but a different team — on the field and the game was over within seven minutes,” said Head Coach Tom Sermanni after the match. “In reality, we were luck to get away two-nil at the end. And again it’s just down to our frailty.”

The overriding theme in the postgame press conference was that nobody seemed to have an answer for why the Pride played so well to start the game and then so poorly after halftime. Sermanni even quipped that maybe someone drugged the team’s water, as he had no good answer for the team’s lack of energy and commitment in the second half.

Sermanni made only minor changes to the team that drew against Sky Blue FC last weekend, inserting Shelina Zadorsky into the midfield in place of Christine Nairn and putting Alex Morgan up top for Rachel Hill.

Orlando came out strong, playing hard and forcing several early corner kicks. The Pride were getting the ball into good positions but had trouble getting shots through the Portland defense. Marta connected with a shot that went just wide in the sixth minute.

The first good Portland chance came off a mistake by Alanna Kennedy who didn’t get enough oomph on her back pass for Ashlyn Harris. Raso, Kennedy’s Australian international teammate, picked off the pass and hit the near post with her shot in the 17th minute.

A minute later, Kristen Edmonds took the first of several heavy challenges she suffered in the first half and the Pride were given a free kick just to the right of the penalty area. Adrianna Franch got a hand on Marta’s delivery to keep the game scoreless.

A few minutes later, Dani Weatherholt and Edmonds fizzed a couple of crosses through the box but no one could get onto them.

The Thorns started coming into the game more as the first half wore on, earning a few corners of their own. One fell dangerously in the box but Portland was whistled for a foul before anyone could pounce on it and Christine Sinclair was booked for fouling Morgan.

The Pride got a flurry of chances just past the half hour mark, but Marta and Weatherholt fired right at Franch and Emily van Egmond sent her effort over the bar.

“We started off terrific the first 15-20 minutes, probably stretching into the first 30 minutes,” Sermanni said. “We dictated the game. The tempo was good, attacking was good, movement was good, but then we don’t score.”

In the 37th minute, Raso again hit the woodwork, this time firing a cross that Harris couldn’t reach but it found the crossbar. Harris made a save on a header by Ana Maria Crnogorcevic in the 41st minute, which was fortunate, because the flag never came up although she appeared to be offside.

Van Egmond fired a shot that Franch grabbed in stoppage time and the whistle blew on a tense first half. Orlando led in shots, 9-5 (3-1 on target), but Portland ended up with 58% of the possession and the better passing accuracy (78%-70%).

It didn’t take the Thorns long to pounce after the interval. Portland earned a corner right out of the break and made the most of it. The short corner was played back to Heath, who crossed it in and the ball went through a lot of traffic in the box before it found its way to Horan for the tap-in just two minutes into the second period.

Meghan Klingenberg sent a cross in for Crnogorcevic in the 48th minute but the Portland attacker collided with Harris and a foul was given. Four minutes later, Chioma Ubogagu tried to clear a ball at the top of the box but it was blocked and Heath slipped it to Sinclair, who fired just wide.

A minute later, the Thorns doubled the lead. Sinclair won a ball in traffic and Crnogorcevic nodded it to Raso, who blazed by half the Pride defense and beat Harris to make it 2-0 in the 53rd minute.

The second goal took a lot of steam out of the Pride. Sermanni put Camila and Hill into the game to try to find a spark, but Orlando just didn’t look a threat at all in the second half and could barely keep any possession.

“The first seven minutes of the second half our defending is embarrassing,” Sermanni said. “A lack of willingness to just simply defend is just so poor. And then we go into a malaise where nobody seems to be able to get the team, pick them up, and get us back in the game. To be honest for most of that second half performance, I apologize to the crowd for coming and keeping supporting us because our team on the field didn’t deserve that support in the second half. It was extremely poor.”

Marta sent a shot through traffic that hit van Egmond in the 63rd minute and it nearly fooled Franch, who made a diving save. That was the Pride’s best opportunity of the half. Portland controlled the ball and kept the Pride hemmed in their own half throughout the second half, making any comeback attempt impossible.

Marta did get a late opportunity to find a consolation goal in the 89th minute when she smashed a shot on target from a severe angle but Franch got her fingertips to it and kept it out. After just two minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle blew and Orlando had fallen in a critical battle for playoff positioning.

Portland ended up winning just about all the statistical categories, including shots, 17-13, although the Pride had a 6-3 advantage in shots on target. The Thorns held 60% of the possession and a 77%-66% edge in passing accuracy.

“Tonight was a difficult one, clearly,” Harris said. “It was an important three points. It’s unfortunate. It’s heartbreaking. I thought we had a great 45 minutes and then we had a really poor 45 minutes. We made things, looking ahead, now tough on ourselves. This is the path we chose so we’ve got to deal with it and we’ve got to move on.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Pride, as next up is a trip to Shield-winning North Carolina next Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

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Orlando Pride

Orlando Pride Announce 2025 NWSL Schedule

We now know who, where, and when the Pride will play in 2025 as they seek to defend their two shiny trophies.

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6 hours ago

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January 22, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

The National Women’s Soccer League schedule was released this afternoon, telling us who, where, and when the Orlando Pride will play this year as they look to defend their NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship. The 2025 season once again includes a balanced schedule with each team playing the other 13 teams once at home and once away. As previously announced, the Pride will take part in the NWSL Challenge Cup against the Washington Spirit on March 7 at 8 p.m. at Inter&Co Stadium prior to the regular season.

The Pride will open the season at home against the Chicago Red Stars at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 14. The first road contest will take place on Sunday, March 23 at NJ/NY Gotham FC. Like last year, the season will end with a Decision Day matchup at home against Seattle Reign FC on Sunday Nov. 2 at a time to be announced later.

The postseason will start with the quarterfinals taking place Nov. 7-9, with matches televised on ESPN/ABC, CBS/Paramount+, and Prime Video. The semifinals will be played the weekend of Nov. 14-16 and broadcast on CBS/Paramount+ and ESPN/ABC. The final will take place in primetime and will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+.

The Pride’s longest homestand this season will be just two games, which happens four times if counting the Challenge Cup match against the Spirit and season opener against the Red Stars. Orlando will host Washington and Angel City on April 19 and 25, respectively; the Utah Royals and Racing Louisville on Aug. 3 and 9, respectively; and Bay FC and the North Carolina Courage on Sept. 13 and 19, respectively.

The longest road trip this year will also be two games, occurring four times: at Portland and North Carolina May 3 and 10, at Bay FC and Louisville June 13 and 20, at Kansas City and Angel City Aug. 16 and 21, and at San Diego and Houston Sept. 26 and Oct. 3.

There are no regular-season matches scheduled in July, meaning the league is taking a break for any potential summer international friendlies/tournaments or an as-yet-unannounced cup competition. The Pride’s busiest month will be August, in which they’ll play five matches, with three at home and two on the road. There will be four Pride matches in March (counting the Challenge Cup), May, and September; three each in April, June, and October, and one — the regular-season finale — in November.

Here’s the month-by-month breakdown for the regular season:

  • March – 3 (plus the Challenge Cup)
  • April – 3
  • May – 4
  • June – 3
  • July – 0
  • August – 5
  • September – 4
  • October – 3
  • November – 1

The most common day the Pride will play this year will be on Friday (11 times, or 12 times counting the Challenge Cup), including four consecutive Friday games late in the season. They’ll play 10 Saturday games, four Sunday matches, and once on Thursday (at Angel City Aug. 21).

Here is the Pride’s schedule by day in the regular season:

  • Friday – 11 (plus the Challenge Cup)
  • Saturday – 10
  • Sunday – 4
  • Thursday – 1

Pride games will air on various platforms again in 2025, including Prime Video, ESPN 2, ESPN, ION, NWSL+, Paramount+, CBS, and CBS Sports Network.

A new NWSL Rivalry Weekend has been added to the schedule in 2025. While the Pride have some rivalries growing naturally against Kansas City and Washington, they have been pitted against Racing Louisville for some reason. Both teams wear purple, I guess.

Fans who support both Orlando City and the Pride will be interested to know the teams play on the same day eight times this season, but only twice do the game times overlap — on May 3, when the Pride play at 7:30 p.m. at Portland and the Lions play at 8:30 p.m. at Chicago; and on May 10, when the Lions host New England at 7:30 and the Pride and Courage kick off in North Carolina at the same time. However, the teams cut it close a couple other times, with the Pride hosting the Washington Spirit at 5 p.m. April 19 and the Lions playing at Montreal at 7:30 p.m.; and on Sept. 13, with the Pride hosting Bay FC at 5 p.m. and Orlando City facing D.C. United at 7:30 p.m. The other four times the teams play on the same day, the kickoffs are at least three hours apart and as many as 10.5 hours apart (March 29).

2025 Orlando Pride Schedule (All Times Eastern)

  • Friday, March 7 — vs. Washington Spirit, 8 p.m. (Prime Video) – NWSL Challenge Cup
  • Friday, March 14 — vs. Chicago Red Stars, 8 p.m. (Prime Video)
  • Sunday, March 23 — at NJ/NY Gotham FC, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
  • Saturday, March 29 — vs. San Diego Wave, 12 p.m. (ESPN)
  • Saturday, April 12 — at Seattle Reign FC, 7:30 p.m. (ION)
  • Saturday, April 19 — vs. Washington Spirit, 5 p.m. (ION)
  • Friday, April 25 — vs. Angel City FC, 8 p.m. (Prime Video)
  • Saturday, May 3 — at Portland Thorns, 7:30 p.m. (ION)
  • Saturday, May 10 — at North Carolina Courage, 7:30 p.m. (ION)
  • Friday, May 16 — vs. Kansas City Current, 8 p.m. (Prime Video)
  • Friday, May 23 — at Utah Royals, 9:30 p.m. (NWSL+)
  • Saturday, June 7 — vs. Houston Dash, 7 p.m. (NWSL+)
  • Friday, June 13 — at Bay FC, 10 p.m. (Prime Video)
  • Friday, June 20 — at Racing Louisville, 8 p.m. (NWSL+)
  • Sunday, Aug. 3 — vs. Utah Royals, 6 p.m. (NWSL+/Paramount+)
  • Saturday, Aug. 9 — vs. Racing Louisville, 7:30 p.m. (ION)
  • Saturday, Aug. 16 — at Kansas City Current, 4 p.m. (CBS)
  • Thursday, Aug. 21 — at Angel City FC, 10:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
  • Friday, Aug. 29 — vs. NJ/NY Gotham FC, 8 p.m. (Prime Video)
  • Sunday, Sept. 7 — at Chicago Red Stars, 3 p.m. (NWSL+/Paramount+)
  • Saturday, Sept. 13 — vs. Bay FC, 5 p.m. (ION)
  • Friday, Sept. 19 — vs. North Carolina Courage, 7:30 p.m. (NWSL+)
  • Friday, Sept. 26 — at San Diego Wave, 10:30 p.m. (NWSL+/Paramount+)
  • Friday, Oct. 3 — at Houston Dash, 8 p.m. (Prime Video)
  • Friday, Oct. 10 — vs. Portland Thorns, 8 p.m. (Prime Video)
  • Saturday, Oct. 18 — at Washington Spirit, 12:30 p.m. (CBS)
  • Sunday, Nov. 2 — vs. Seattle Reign FC, TBA (broadcast platform TBA)
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Orlando Pride Announce 2025 Preseason Camp Roster

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2 days 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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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.

Published

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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