Welcome to your match thread as the Orlando Pride (7-3-1, 22) head back out on the road to face Bay FC (4-4-3, 15 points). This is the first of two times the teams will face off with the return game in Orlando scheduled for Sept. 13.

Here’s everything you need to know about tonight’s game.

History

Bay FC is one of two expansion teams that entered the NWSL for the 2024 season. The teams met twice last year, with the first coming on Sept. 20. It looked like the game might be headed for a scoreless draw until Barbra Banda got her head on the end of a Carson Pickett cross, redirecting it past Katelyn Rowland to give the Pride the 1-0 win.

The first-ever game between these two teams occurred on May 11, 2024. Just prior to the half-hour mark, Banda dribbled inside and Deyna Castellanos attempted an ill-advised challenge, resulting in a foul in the box and a Pride penalty. Adriana put the ball into the bottom left corner for the only goal, lifting the Pride to a 1-0 win. It was the sixth win in an NWSL-record, eight-game win streak.

Overview

After a strong start to the 2025 campaign, the Pride lost three of five games, including a three-game winless streak. But they’ve bounced back strong with back-to-back wins.

The current streak started on May 23 in Utah when Banda netted the first hat trick in Pride history in a 3-1 win. They returned home to face the Houston Dash Saturday night and weren’t threatening in the first 45 minutes. But the Pride came out flying in the second half. It looked like it wouldn’t be enough to gain all three points until Cori Dyke scored the game-winning goal with the last touch of the ball.

Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made several changes to the starting lineup since many players had gone away to represent their countries during the international break. The two most notable absences were Banda and Marta, but both came on in the second half, helping the Pride claim all three points.

It was another stellar defensive performance as the Pride earned their fourth clean sheet in the first 11 games. The 3-2 win over Angel City on April 25 remains the only time the Pride have conceded multiple goals this season.

Tonight, the Pride face a Bay FC team that’s barely clinging onto the eighth and final playoff spot. The San Jose, CA-based club has been stronger defensively than offensively this season, scoring 13 goals (ninth in the league) and conceding 14 (fifth in the league).

Bay FC has conceded two goals on four occasions this season, only giving up three or more goals once. That came on May 11 when they lost 4-1 to the league-leading Kansas City Current. Meanwhile, Bay has matched the Pride this year with four clean sheets.

Bay FC is coming off a good win over the always dangerous Portland Thorns. While the game was in San Jose, it wasn’t a long trip for the Thorns like the Pride made this week.

Asisat Oshoala led Bay FC with eight goals last year and Racheal Kundananji was second with five. But this season the duo only have a goal between them. It’s Penelope Hocking leading the team with three goals after netting just four last season. She’s followed by Kiki Pickett, Karlie Lema, and Caroline Conti as the only players with multiple goals on the year.

While the attack might not concern the Pride too much tonight, the Bay FC back line will be hard to break down. They’ve shown themselves to be stingy this season and will do everything they can to maintain Banda, Marta, and the rest of the Pride attack.

“I think with every game that we’ve been playing, it’s been a challenge,” Hines said about tonight’s game. “The teams have come with a game plan, and I think that’s to negate our attacking positions as much as they can. Reduce the space that we can exploit and being defensively disciplined. And I expect nothing different against Bay. I think that’s probably one thing they’ve learned from last year is being more defensively solid, being hard to beat, and then look to transition with the likes of Racheal Kundananji.”

There’s no change to the Pride availability list this week. The team is still without Simone Charley (ankle), Luana (illness), Amanda Allen (shoulder), and Rafaelle (thigh). Bay FC is without Jordan Brewster (lower leg), Emily Menges (excused absence), Princess (excused absence), and Jordan Silkowitz (illness).

---

Projected Lineups

Orlando Pride (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Anna Moorhouse.

Defenders: Kerry Abello, Kylie Nadaner, Emily Sams, Oihane.

Defensive Midfielders: Haley McCutcheon, Morgan Gautrat.

Midfielders: Angelina, Marta, Ally Watt.

Forward: Barbra Banda.

Bay FC (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Emmie Allen.

Defenders: Maddie Moreau, Joelle Anderson, Abby Dahlkemper, Caprice Dydasco.

Midfielders: Penelope Hocking, Dorian Bailey, Caroline Conti, Rachel Hill.

Forwards: Taylor Huff, Racheal Kundananji.

Referees

REF: Muhammad Hassan.
AR1: Melissa Beck.
AR2: Zeno Cho.
4TH: Kevin Lewis.
VAR: Elton Garcia.
AVAR: Tom Felice.

---

How to Watch

Match Time: 10 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV: None.

Streaming: Prime Video.

Social Media: For live updates and rapid reaction, follow @themaneland.bsky.social on Bluesky and the Orlando Pride’s official Twitter (@ORLPride) or Bluesky (@orlpride.com) feed.

---

Enjoy the game. Go Pride!

The Orlando Pride head to California to take on Bay FC Friday night. The Pride are coming off a win, thanks to a last-second winner from Cori Dyke at home. Unfortunately, I won’t be in San Jose to lend whatever small bit of mojo I have to the outcome, so it’s going to be all on the players (as if it isn’t always that way, of course). With that being the case, what do the Pride need to do to take all three points from Bay FC at PayPal Park?

A Quicker Start

In the last match against the Houston Dash, Seb Hines rested the players returning from international duty to start the match. As such, the stout Dash defense was able to keep the Pride off the scoreboard in the first half. Even after the normal starters returned in the second half, it took until the very last kick of the match to secure the win. Let’s not repeat that this time.

Whenever a club plays in a different time zone, it can mess with the sense of normalcy you want on a match day. That is especially true when going all the way across the country. The beginning of the match will feel like the same time the match would normally be ending at Inter&Co. As such, I want to see the normal starters jump on Bay FC very early. Get the early lead — perhaps multiple goals — and see out the match with whichever players Hines may want.

Open it Up

Except for Barbra Banda’s hat trick against the Utah Royals, the Pride attack has been lacking some bite for over a month. The club has generated plenty of chances, but the finishing has been less than stellar. Orlando needs to turn the scoring faucet back on and pour on some goals.

The final bit of quality needs to be better from everyone in the attack. In the last five matches, the Pride have scored four goals on 70 shots, with 30 on target (43%). That means the Pride have scored on 6% of shots taken and only 13% of their shots on target. For a team with Marta and Banda, that isn’t good enough.

This may be my recency bias, but one area the team can change to improve its chances is to not take short corners. As I said on SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast, I lost count of the missed opportunities due to short corners against the Dash. Just put the ball into the box and sometimes weird things happen. It is much more likely that the ball goes in the net than is sent on a counter by the opposition. There are chances for a handball resulting in a penalty, a foul resulting in a penalty, or an own goal being scored. Just get the ball in the darn box!

Lock It Down

I know that the Pride secured yet another clean sheet against the Dash, but it was partially down to luck. Anna Moorhouse was fortunate that the ball that went through her hands went out of bounds and that the Dash were offside when she got caught in no-woman’s land on a ball over the top. That can’t happen. The difference between a team that wins championships and one that doesn’t comes down to limiting mistakes and a bit of luck. Only one of those two can be controlled.

I want to see the lock-down defense we saw in 2024. I think Emily Sams is maintaining her level of play and Oihane has been an improvement — albeit a small one — at right back. Kylie Nadaner has struggled a bit this year after a phenomenal 2024 season. I think she can step it back up, but she needs to do so sooner rather than later. Left back has had a rotating cast, with Kerry Abello, Carson Pickett, and even Dyke seeing time at the position.

Bay FC has spread the goals out over several players, with Penelope Hocking leading the way with three. That being said, the California side has plenty of players who can score, including Zambian National Team forward Racheal Kundananji. We know all too well how dangerous Zambian strikers can be. Moorhouse and the back line must tighten things up. No mistakes on the road.

---

That’s what I’ll be looking for late Friday night. Where do you think the game will be won or lost? Let us know in the comments section.

The Orlando Pride got off to a flying start in 2025 before their first three-game winless run since the beginning of the 2023 season. However, they’ve bounced back strong in recent weeks, hitting their stride at the right time.

The Pride came into the 2025 season with huge expectations. They won the NWSL regular-season and playoff championships in 2024, making them a target for the opposition. However, they won five of their first six games this year, with the only loss being a 1-0 defeat against the Washington Spirit, who currently sit tied in second with the Pride.

Following a 3-2 comeback win over Angel City FC, the Pride went on a skid unseen in two years. It started with a 1-0 loss away to the Portland Thorns and a draw against the North Carolina Courage, before they returned home and lost 1-0 to the Kansas City Current — the team’s first loss at Inter&Co Stadium since Aug. 25, 2023.

The skid ended on May 23 with a historic performance by Barbra Banda. The striker netted three goals in the first 38 minutes against the Utah Royals for the first hat trick in team history. More importantly, she lifted her team to a 3-1 win away from home.

The first half Saturday against the Houston Dash looked like it might be a disappointing night. At halftime, possession was even and the Pride had a slim 6-4 shot advantage. After putting 11 of their 13 shots on target in Utah, they only put one on frame in the first half against a team near the bottom of the NWSL standings.

Fortunately, it looked like a different team in the second half. They dominated possession and put constant pressure on the Dash defense, reuslting in Cori Dyke scoring the game-winning goal with the final kick of the ball.

The wins are coming at a great time for the Pride as an extended summer break approaches. Following the team’s June 20 game in Louisville, they won’t play again until Aug. 3. The last thing the players on the team want is to spend more than a month thinking about their current struggles before taking the field again.

“We talked about going into the Utah game, our form wasn’t great, so we knew how important that Utah game was leading into the international break,” Pride center back Kylie Nadaner said following the team’s win over Houston. “And now these three games leading into an even longer break for the Euros. So, we want to get that momentum back and just keep growing and learning each game.”

The team knew this season was going to be much more challenging. Heading into the 2024 campaign, the Pride had only made the playoffs once in eight years. They only missed out on goal difference in 2023 and were heading in the right direction.

Despite the improvements, nobody expected them to go 23 games unbeaten, winning both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship. This year, they have a target on their backs, something Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made sure his team knows.

“We’ve said it at the start of the year, we’ve got a target on our backs. You know, teams can come to Inter&Co Stadium and maybe be content with a 0-0. That’s where we’re at,” Hines said after Saturday night’s win. “Teams may have a completely different game plan against us in those two recent other games. So, we know that that’s the challenge.”

The win over Houston, combined with San Diego Wave FC’s 2-1 loss to Seattle Reign FC, saw the Pride jump the California-based team into second place. Even though Washington matched the Pride’s point total with its win Sunday, the Pride have a better goal differential.

The Pride now go on a difficult two-game road trip, where they’ll face two teams hovering around the last playoff spot. It starts with a cross-country trip to San Jose, CA, where they’ll face Bay FC, currently in the last playoff position.

Then, they’ll head to Kentucky for the final game before the extended break, facing a Racing Louisville team that sits in sixth. Both opponents will be desperate to get points and stay in the top eight.

The game in Louisville will be the 13th of the year, marking the halfway point of the season. Sitting in second, even if it’s still five points behind Kansas City, will be a positive spot heading into the break. More importantly, the team will have momentum when the league restarts in August.

“Momumtum is massive,” Hines said. “I think we showed that last year.”

The Pride entered that Utah game knowing they had to start winning again to get themselves back into an advantageous position. They’re now halfway to ending the first half of the season on a four-game winning streak, precisely what they needed. Wins in the next two would put them in a great spot entering the final 13 games of the 2025 campaign.