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Orlando Pride vs. Sky Blue FC: Final Score 3-2 as Marta Provides Spark Off the Bench

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6 years ago

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In a back-and-forth match, the Orlando Pride needed some Marta magic to help them earn three hard fought points against winless Sky Blue FC (0-9-2, 2 points). Sydney Leroux got a first half brace and Rachel Hill came off the bench to record the game winner as the Pride (5-3-4, 19 points) earned a 3-2 win in Orlando City Stadium in front of 4,445 fans on Pride In Our City night.

“It was bits of frustration intermingled with bits of good soccer,” Head Coach Tom Sermanni said after the match. “Bits of bad habits, and times when we actually could have finished the game off. And as I’m going over all the 90 minutes, I think, I kinda like to be honest when dealing with our performances, I think that we were kinda a wee bit fortunate to come away with a win tonight.”

The Pride were certainly not at their best. Chioma Ubogagu and Alanna Kennedy both struggled with the ball and Ashlyn Harris could have done a better job on both of the goals she let in. Chi finished the game with just nine passes — the same amount as Rachel Hill, who came in for Ubogagu in the last half hour — and Chi had just a 56% passing accuracy. Kennedy was slightly better with 64%, albeit on a game high 56 passes.

Prior to the start of the match, one of the surprises was that Camila was not in the starting XI, but as Sermanni said just because she is cleared to play does not mean she will play having had just a week of training after missing eight months. Marta started on the bench with a left calf strain but came on in the 73rd minute and was a crucial part of the win.

Fans were still finding their seats when the Pride went ahead 92 seconds into the game. Ubogagu put a cross into the box from the left wing. Two Sky Blue defenders missed on the clearance attempt and the ball found Leroux. Leroux cut inside and took a left-footed shot that went underneath Sky Blue goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan for the fastest goal in Orlando Pride history. 

The Pride continued to control the game early on but then out of nowhere, the New Jersey side started to press forward in the 14th minute and found the back of the net. Savannah McCaskill took a shot from distance that hit the post and Katie Johnson was there for the put-back. Luckily, Johnson was offside so the goal did not count.

However, three minutes later it looked like the same exact play. After the Pride turned the ball over in midfield, Imani Dorsey got down the field, played a one-two with McCaskill, and took a shot. Harris made the save but the ball fell right to the feet of McCaskill, who passed the ball into the back of the net. The ball went just behind Christine Nairn and Kennedy was too slow in recovering. 

Leroux got her brace in the 31st minute. Nairn put in a cross from the left side, after a throw-in, looking for Leroux. The striker made a diving header to the back post to put the Pride up 2-1. 

“It was a great ball in from Nairn,” said Leroux. “It was a little behind me so I kinda had to get around it and it just ended up hitting my head perfectly. I like to put myself in positions to score and to do whatever I can to put the ball into the back of the net.”

A minute later, Chi should have got on the board. Emily van Egmond hit a long ball over the top and Ubogagu was one-on-one with Sheridan, as Morgan ran alone on the back post. Chi decided to take it herself on a disappointing effort and much to the dismay of Morgan. Morgan was yelling at Chi that she should have passed instead of taking it herself. 

With the Pride failing to convert their chances, Sky Blue was able to get back into it. Harris once again made the first save, this time on Johnson, and the rebound went right to the feet of Madison Tiernan, who took one touch and beat Harris on the near post. 

The game went to halftime with a score of 2-2. The Pride dominated possession with 58% but the story of the first half was the passing of Kennedy and Ubogagu, who finished the opening period with 50% and 43% respectively, and the Pride’s inability to maintain possession. The visitors led in shots (8-7) but the shots on target were tied at four each.

The second half started out a bit slowly but then in the 54th minute Orlando had multiple opportunities. Morgan and Chi both were in the box but could not make good contact on the ball. Sky Blue cleared it out but Nairn ended up getting on the end of it and put in a ball aiming for Leroux. Leroux took a shot towards the back post and it just narrowly missed. 

The game continued on with both teams struggling to keep possession. When the Pride got the ball they tried to play long balls but oftentimes it went to the opposition and it looked like Orlando was just playing kickball. Pickett got a shot off in the 60th minute that went well over the bar, then worked to win a corner a few minutes later. Carli Lloyd finally got in on the game with a header attempt in the 70th, but Harris made the comfortable save. 

Then, in the 73rd minute, the intensity picked up due to Marta coming in off the bench. Passes were crisper and more accurate, and the game tempo all of a sudden doubled. In the 78th minute, Sheridan somehow kept the game tied at two. Marta, with time and space inside the box, fired a rocket but Sheridan made the save. The ball came back to Marta, who headed it over to Morgan but Morgan could not head it on frame and the visitors were able to clear. 

“[Marta] immediately gives the team a boost but the thing that she does really well is she rarely makes bad decisions,” said Sermanni. “And that’s the difference. I thought at times throughout the game, and the players, a couple of them have already spoken to me, we just made some really poor decisions, or poor execution. Marta, as well as adding a spark, makes good decisions.”

Five minutes later, Marta showed everyone why she is the GOAT. The Brazilian took on two Sky Blue players, before passing it off to Morgan. Morgan put a cross in for Rachel Hill and Hill buried it with a header.

“Alex [Morgan] put a fantastic ball in so I really didn’t have any other option than to get my head on it and it happened to go into the back of the net. So, all from Alex [Morgan],” Hill said about her game winner.

Sky Blue then tried to fight back and get another game-tying goal. Dorsey got a shot off in the 88th minute but it went wide. Then, Poliana turned it over leading to a shot from Lloyd but that went wide as well. Once stoppage time started the Pride, led by Marta, went to the left corner and wasted all of the three minutes. Nifty footwork from Marta and great team passing is what killed the game off.

Orlando finished the game with 56% possession, 20 shots, 465 passes, and a 77% passing accuracy — all higher than Sky Blue. Harris finished with five saves but it was the substitutes that made the difference. Dani Weatherholt, who played just 30 minutes, led the Pride in tackles. Marta created two chances and was all over the ball with 33 touches in just 17 minutes of action. And Hill brought a new energy to the game which led to her game winner.

“I’m a little upset that we were up twice and then we conceded,” Leroux said. “Obviously there are some things that we need to clean up defensively, but I’m supper happy that we got three points out of this.”

The Pride are back in action on Saturday, June 23 as they take on the Washington Spirit in Maryland SoccerPlex.

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Orlando Pride

Orlando Pride Announce 2025 Preseason Camp Roster

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14 hours 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.

Published

3 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

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

5 days ago

on

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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