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Orlando Pride vs Houston Dash: Final Score 1-1 as Taylor Kornieck Scores Late Equalizer

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4 years ago

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The Orlando Pride (6-5-7, 25 points) got a late header from Taylor Kornieck to draw with the Houston Dash (6-7-4, 22 points) 1-1 at Exploria Stadium this afternoon. Kornieck’s goal off a corner kick cancelled out an early strike by Houston’s Rachel Daly, claiming a point for each team.

The Pride only made one change to the starting lineup from last week’s 1-0 win over NJ/NY Gotham FC. After missing the last game with an injury, Amy Turner returned to the lineup, replacing Toni Pressley. Erika Tymrak remained in the lineup after a strong performance in New Jersey that included a stellar long-range goal.

The Dash got off to a fast start, putting the Pride on their back foot. The first chance for the visitors came inside the first minute, when Kristie Mewis received the ball on the left. With space in the box, Mewis fired on goal but her shot was wide of the target.

In the 10th minute, the Dash broke the early deadlock. After doing well to get in front of the defender, Ali Riley either took a heavy touch or tried a short pass to Turner but didn’t get enough on it. Either way, Daly reacted faster than Turner, ran in, and played it past Ashlyn Harris inside the far post for the opening goal.

“It was interesting because I thought we had a good warm up,” interim coach Becky Burleigh said about the slow start. “But I think it was a little bit of confidence. It was a little bit of tempo. It’s definitely something we’re going to go back and evaluate because we just can’t have that kind of start and expect to get good results.”

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is,” Meggie Dougherty Howard added. “But I think we just need to be confident from the first minute and I think it takes us a little bit of time to build that confidence through the game.”

The first chance of the game for the Pride didn’t come until the 27th minute. Marta dribbled through a pair of Dash defenders, before taking a long-distance shot from outside the box. The ball was easily collected by Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell, but it was the first shot for the Pride.

The Dash nearly doubled their lead in the 36th minute. A Mewis corner was headed toward the far corner, but Harris got her hand to it and knocked it away. Unfortunately, the ball went directly to Shea Groom who fired right back on goal. Harris was in a seated position, but was still able to make the save, allowing the Pride to clear.

While the Pride got the ball briefly out of danger, it quickly re-entered the box and was at the feet of Mewis. The dangerous midfielder shot on goal, forcing Harris into another save, keeping the Pride’s deficit at one.

The Pride didn’t have many chances in the first half but did create some near the end. In the 42nd minute, Marta sent a dangerous cross into the box. Jodie Taylor was charging toward goal, but was unable to reach the pass as it sailed harmlessly out of play.

In injury time, the Pride had a pair of opportunities to equalize before the break. First, Gunny Jonsdottir received the ball outside of the box and fired on goal, but Campbell was able to easily catch it. A minute later, Sydney Leroux found space and shot toward the far post. The ball skipped past a diving Campbell, traveling just inches wide of the post.

Similar to the first half, it was the Dash who got the first chance of the second 45 minutes. In the 48th minute, Riley lost the ball to Nichelle Prince in her own third. Prince carried the ball into the box unimpeded, getting a shot on goal. However, Harris was there once again, getting low to make the kick save.

Already down a goal, the Pride suffered a difficult loss in the 60th minute. Jasmyne Spencer got in front of Harris on a Dash corner kick, forcing the Pride goalkeeper to go up and over the former Pride player. Harris dropped the ball, resulting in a scramble in front of goal that saw the ball hit the post.

When the ball was finally cleared, Harris went down in the box. The Pride medical staff attended to her head and neck area, even bringing on a stretcher. Once Harris got up on her own, she was given a concussion test and escorted off the field by the medical staff. Erin McLeod came on for the star goalkeeper, her first appearance for the Pride since June 23 in Kansas City.

“Besides being a little bit sore, I think that we’re out of the woods on that one,” Burleigh said about Harris after the game. “It was more scary at the time. When you have a head or a neck injury, there’s always some concern there.”

In the 79th minute, the Pride created a couple of chances that resulted in the equalizer. It started when Ali Krieger sent a long ball into the box, finding the head of second-half substitute Kornieck. The forward got her header on target, but Campbell was able to tip it over the crossbar.

Dougherty Howard found Kornieck again on the ensuing corner kick. Again, Kornieck put her header on target. Campbell got her hand on the ball, but tipped it against the underside of the crossbar. The Dash tried to clear but the ball snuck over the line for the equalizing goal.

“I’m feeling great,” Kornieck said about scoring her first goal at Exploria Stadium. “It’s been a long time coming. I’m happy for the team to play incredible, and I’m just really happy to get my first goal at Orlando stadium. It meant a lot to me to go in and score, finally, in front of our home crowd, I have no words for it. It just meant the world to me.”

After the Pride had lost one of its most important players earlier in the second half, the Dash nearly lost one of theirs. In the 82nd minute, a dangerous cross into the box found the head of Daly. However, Mewis was also going after the ball and Daly’s head slammed into the midfielder’s shoulder, sending her to the ground. Fortunately for the Dash, their first-half goal scorer was able to resume.

The 95-degree heat showed its impact in the final minutes of the game. The Harris and Daly injuries resulted in 10 minutes of second half injury time, but neither team was able to create a chance and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

The Pride led many statistical categories in this game, including possession (56%-44%), passing accuracy (78.6%-73.7%), total passes (485-380), and duels (55-43). The difference was in the final third, where the Dash were able to create chances and the Pride struggled. While the Pride were better in the second half, the Dash had more shots (11-8) and shots on target (5-4).

“Looking back on the game, I think we put ourselves in the hole a little bit,” Burleigh said about the performance. “Our start was not what we would hope for, but for the team to battle back and to deal with that adversity and for the people who came into the match, but there were some really strong performances from the reserves. I’d like to shout out Erin McLeod. That’s a tough situation to go into and her composure was incredible. Obviously, Taylor gets a goal coming off the bench. But, Toni Pressley played a big role coming off the bench as well so it’s great to see our reserves making such an impact.”

While the Pride would’ve preferred three points at home, especially having played two more games than multiple teams, it’s a needed point as they look to secure a playoff spot for only the second time in team history. The point keeps the team in fourth in the league, and three points ahead of today’s opponent.

“I think that we’re going to learn from this game,” Dougherty Howard said after the game. “And I think it’s been a little bit of a pain where we’re struggling to start our game strong and today we got punished. So, we were able to fight back and showed a lot of character and getting the result again, but bottom line, we need to start getting better and we know that and I think that’s going to be a real focal point going forward as we make this playoff push. But once we settle in, we show that we can play, and we can be confident on the ball, but we just have to do that from the first minute.”

The Pride will take the field again next Saturday night when they face Racing Louisville FC at Exploria Stadium at 7 p.m.

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2025 Orlando Pride Season in Review: Barbra Banda

The Zambian international was having another standout season when a season-ending injury derailed things.

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6 hours ago

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December 6, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

The Orlando Pride signed Zambian international striker Barbra Banda on March 7, 2024 from Chinese Women’s Super League side Shanghai Shengli FC to a contract through the 2027 season. Banda arrived a few weeks later when her exit from Shanghai Shengli and international paperwork were taken care of, and from the moment she stepped onto the pitch with her Pride teammates on April 19 of last year in a home win over the San Diego Wave, she completely changed the team’s attack, embarking on a season that resulted in NWSL regular-season and playoff titles and racking up a full trophy case worth of individual awards.

Banda’s second year with the club was off to a great start, with eight goals in the first 12 games, including the first hat trick in Orlando Pride history, before her production tailed off a bit and then she was then lost for the season to a hip injury sustained early in the match at Kansas City on Aug. 16.

Let’s take a look back at Banda’s injury-shortened second season in Orlando.

Statistical Breakdown

Banda started and played the first 82 minutes in the 2025 Challenge Cup match. She did not record a goal contribution and took just one off-target shot. She passed at an 84% rate but that was on just six total attempts, and she did not record a completed long ball or a key pass, although she was successful on one of her two dribble attempts. Defensively, she won one aerial duel. She committed one foul, drew two on the Washington Spirit, and was not booked.

During the regular season, Banda made 16 appearances (15 starts), playing 1,299 minutes. She contributed eight goals and an assist, putting 35 of her 58 shots on target. She completed just 61% of her 182 passes, two of her 14 crosses (14.3%), and two of her four long balls (50%) with 15 key passes. On the defensive end, the Zambian forward contributed 14 tackles, two interceptions, two clearances, and two blocked shots. She committed 37 fouls, drew 21 on the opposition, and picked up three yellow cards on the season.

Banda did not participate in the Concacaf W Champions Cup or the playoffs, which both took place after her season-ending injury.

Best Game

There’s really no contest. Banda recorded the first hat trick in club history and the NWSL’s first first-half hat trick on the road in a 3-1 road win over the Utah Royals on May 23. It was a dominant first 45 minutes for the Zambian international, who started scoring early. Oihane sent Ally Watt down the right flank and Banda made a quick, heads-up move to get inside her defender as Watt’s cross arrived. She flicked her shot home with a first-touch shot to put the Pride ahead 1-0 in the sixth minute.

Although Utah tied the game eight minutes later, Banda was just getting started. Showing off her impressive speed and physicality, Banda punished Utah for a soft back pass, blazing forward to beat the center back to the ball and poking it into space. She took a couple of dribbles, pushed the ball right to round the keeper while holding off the other center back, and slotted home her second goal of the game in the 37th minute to restore Orlando’s lead.

Less than a minute later, Haley McCutcheon sent Banda down the left flank with a long ball. The Zambian entered the box from the side while weighing her options in a ton of space. She then blasted a near-post shot past goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn to make it 3-1, completing her hat trick from start to finish in just 32 minutes.

Banda fired six shots in total in the game and put all six of them on target, coming close to a fourth goal several times, making the most of her 24 touches in the game in her 72 minutes on the pitch. If there was a downside to her match, it was completing only four of her 10 passes (40%), but she did all the damage on the day, logging a game-high three successful dribbles on four attempts. She also had five recoveries on the defensive end and won four of her eight duels. She committed three fouls and drew one on Utah, picking up one of her three yellow cards on the season in this match.

2025 Final Grade

The Mane Land staff gave Banda a composite rating of 8 out of 10 for her second season in Orlando. This was a point lower than the 9 we gave her last year. Banda was as dangerous as ever, but at times she was impatient and often isolated, which no doubt led to most of her 199 turnovers on the season. Although she finished with eight goals, tying for sixth among all NWSL players despite missing nearly half the season, Banda still left a few goals on the field with misses or firing straight at the goalkeeper, but that’s admittedly a nitpick. She still somehow finished the year with the league’s most shots on target (35). There wasn’t much drop in Banda’s play, but the overall slight drop in team play was likely more costly to her individual stats than anyone else’s on the team. It’s a shame her injury occurred prior to Jacquie Ovalle’s arrival, as the Mexican international’s skillset seems well suited to play to Banda’s strengths.

2026 Outlook

The 25-year-old is in the prime of her career and under contract through 2027, so unless she requests a transfer, she’ll be a big part of Orlando’s team in 2026. Banda will be an automatic starter when she returns to action. Depending on her recovery timeline and how much time she can get in preseason training, she might start the season on the bench before returning to the starting XI, but as one of the league’s most lethal players, she’ll be a starter as soon as she’s fully fit.

As mentioned above, Ovalle’s acquisition was largely due to a skillset that complements Banda’s. Ovalle’s ability to pick out teammates should unlock more scoring chances for Banda, and in turn, Banda’s presence on the pitch will open up space for Ovalle that was missing in 2025. The partnership, once it’s had some time to gel, should be a fruitful one for Orlando. A return to double-digit goals in 2026 is not only possible, but with a healthy Banda, it’s probable. That would put her back at NWSL Best XI level.

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2025 Orlando Pride Season In Review: Angelina

The Brazilian’s performance dropped a bit in 2025, but she was still a solid player in the middle of the field.

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1 day ago

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December 5, 2025

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Image of Angelina launching a long pass.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

The Orlando Pride signed defensive midfielder Angelina on Dec. 13, 2023, as a restricted free agent, with the Brazilian international joining the Pride after spending the three previous seasons with Seattle. She is still playing on that initial contract, which runs through the 2026 season, and crossed 50 games played with the Pride near the end of this season.

Let’s take a look back at the midfielder’s second season with the Pride.

Statistical Breakdown

Angelina started and went the full 90 minutes in the NWSL Challenge Cup game against Washington, opening the game as an attacking midfielder but shifting after halftime back to the defensive midfield, where she had primarily played in 2024. The Brazilian did not take any shots or have a goal contribution, completed 79% of her passes, made three tackles, committed and suffered two fouls, and was not booked. She nearly had the game-winning assist, playing a beautiful free kick onto Kylie Nadaner’s head that the defender put into the back of the net, but she had been offside prior to the ball being played, so the goal did not count. The game went to penalty kicks and Angelina converted her opportunity low and to the goalkeeper’s left, but unfortunately the next two Pride players did not convert theirs, and the Pride did not win the post-match shootout or the trophy.

In NWSL regular-season play, Angelina appeared in all of Orlando’s 26 matches, starting 23 and playing a total of 1,816 minutes. She put five of her 15 shot attempts on target, but none past the goalkeeper. The Brazilian international completed 73% of her passes, with one assist from her 23 key passes (second most on the team, behind Marta) and four successful crosses. On the defensive side, she compiled 29 tackles, while also tallying 11 interceptions, nine blocked shots, and 18 clearances. She committed 20 fouls, suffered 26, and received two yellow cards.

Angelina played all 180 minutes during the Pride’s two playoff games. Just as in the regular season she did not score any goals, and only had one shot attempt across the two matches, putting it on target. Her passing completion percentage dipped a bit from the regular season, coming in at 69% without a key pass or an assist. On defense, she contributed two tackles, one interception, and five clearances. She committed three fouls, suffered two, and was not booked.

In a manner very similar to her normal midfield partner, Haley McCutcheon, Seb Hines rested Angelina for most of the Concacaf W Champions Cup, playing her in only two games and for a combined total of 80 minutes. Angelina came off the bench in the Pride’s two games against teams from Liga MX Feminil — Club America and Pachuca — and did not record a goal contribution, took one off-target shot, completed 74% of her pass attempts without a key pass, made three tackles, committed one foul, suffered one foul, and was not booked in the competition.

Best Game

The Brazilian’s best game in 2025 was definitely her one-goal, one-assist performance for her native country in the Copa America Feminina championship game, but choosing her best game for the Pride was a much more difficult decision. Many of her games ended up with similar stat lines, but only game ended up with a goal contribution, which was the Pride’s last-gasp comeback to earn a 1-1 draw against North Carolina. Angelina earned her assist by playing a dangerous corner kick toward the near post, where Prisca Chilufya scored one of the odder headed goals you will ever see, looping her header incredibly high in the air but at just the right angle to drop into the back of the net in the third minute of second half stoppage time.

In addition to the assist, Angelina had three other shot-creating actions, completed a season-high 94% of her passes, and added one tackle on defense. In a season of mostly workmanlike performances Angelina’s performance in this game stood out, as the one moment of magic for the Pride was created off of her corner kick, earning a point for the Pride and my vote for her best game of the season.

2025 Final Grade

The Mane Land staff gave Angelina a composite grade of 6.5 out of 10, a significant step down from the 8 out of 10 we gave her in 2024. Despite playing more than 300 more minutes in NWSL play in 2025 than she did in 2024, many of her counting stats were either lower (goals, assists, shot-creating actions, key passes, defensive interruptions) or only slightly higher (shots, passes completed, touches, successful long balls). Seb Hines tried to use her in some different positions in the beginning of the season, but even when she returned to playing primarily in the same spot as she did in 2024, her involvement in the game dipped a bit this season, which is reflected in the lower grade from our staff.

2026 Outlook

Barring an off-season trade or transfer, Angelina will be back with the Pride next season and will be the presumptive starter alongside McCutcheon in the defensive midfield. While her form dipped in 2025 as compared to 2024, she was still a solid player for the Pride, and she will be 26 years old next season, so she should be able to perform at least at the same level as in 2025 and hopefully will return back to her 2024 form. If she does, it will go a long way toward helping the Pride have a third straight season with a top tier defense, which should keep them in the mix for a top-four seed and a chance to return to the NWSL championship game.

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2025 Orlando Pride Season In Review: Haley McCutcheon

The midfielder reached a career high for goal contributions while providing solid defense and leadership as a vice-captain.

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2 days ago

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December 4, 2025

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Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

The Pride acquired Haley McCutcheon (née Haley Hanson) in a midseason trade with the Houston Dash on Aug. 18, 2022. Following the 2022 season, the University of Nebraska product signed a new contract through 2024, which the club then extended through 2026 a year later on Dec. 20, 2023. Earlier this year, on June 25, the Pride extended McCutcheon again, and she is now under contract with the Pride through the 2028 season.

Though she joined the Pride having primarily played on the back line while with Houston, during the past two seasons she has played almost exclusively as a defensive midfielder, providing a strong bridge between the defensive and attacking groups.

Let’s take a look back at the midfielder’s fourth season with the Pride.

Statistical Breakdown

McCutcheon started and went the full 90 minutes in the NWSL Challenge Cup game against Washington, playing alongside Morgan Gautrat in the middle of the field in the beginning of the game but moving to right back in the second half. The one shot she took did not hit the target but nearly every pass she played did, as she completed 92% of her passes with one key pass late in the game that nearly led to a Barbra Banda goal. She also added two tackles on defense and committed one foul. She was not booked.

In NWSL regular-season play McCutcheon appeared in all of Orlando’s 26 matches, starting 25 and playing a total of 2,177 minutes, which was third most on the team. She put nine of her 25 shots on target and converted three of them into goals — a career high. The former first-round draft pick completed 77% of her passes with a team-leading and career-high four assists (tied for 11th most in the NWSL) from her 16 key passes and four successful crosses. On the defensive side, she compiled a team-high 56 tackles, while also tallying 22 interceptions, seven blocked shots, and 75 clearances. She committed 33 fouls, suffered 13, and received two yellow cards.

McCutcheon went the distance in both of the Pride’s playoff games, playing all 180 minutes. As compared to the regular season, she was considerably less accurate with her passing, completing only 67% of her passes with one key pass, but she rose to the moment by opening the Pride’s playoff scoring account with a goal against Seattle. That goal came on her only shot on target during the playoffs out of her three attempts. She was an active defender though, contributing five tackles, five interceptions, two blocked shots, and three clearances. She committed four fouls, suffered none, and was not booked.

Seb Hines rested McCutcheon for most of the Concacaf W Champions Cup, playing her in only one game and for 45 minutes. McCutcheon came off the bench in the final group stage game against Pachuca and took an off-target shot, completed 17 of her 20 pass attempts (85%), and did not contribute any defensive statistics of the few that were tracked during that competition. She was not booked.

Best Game

McCutcheon’s most prolific game of the season came in a loss, so I will honor her one goal and one assist game against Chicago by mentioning it,, but for her best game I am going to go with the the playoff-opening 2-0 win over Seattle, when McCutcheon once again became McClutcheon, scoring the game’s opening goal and her third playoff goal in her fourth playoff appearance for the Pride.

That goal was huge, but just as huge was the defensive effort put forth by McCutcheon after scoring, as she contributed a season-high eight interruptions (tackles + interceptions), as well as a blocked shot and two clearances. Seattle outplayed the Pride for most of the game, nearly doubling the Pride in shots taken and more than doubling them in expected goals from open play, but Orlando’s defensive effort, led by McCutcheon, the team leader in both tackles and interceptions, kept the visitors off the scoreboard. It was a strong all-around performance by the midfielder in a do-or-die game, and I believe it was her best of the 2025 season.

2025 Final Grade

The Mane Land staff gave McCutcheon a composite grade of 6 out of 10, a slight step down from the 6.5 we gave her last year. It matches the 6 we gave her in 2023 and is much better than the 5 out of 10 grade she received in her first season in Orlando in 2022. She increased her goal contributions but slightly declined in her pass completion percentage, defensive interruptions per 90 minutes, and touches per 90 minutes — all critical areas for a defensive midfielder. On the whole, it was a solid season for the midfielder, but there were some consistency issues, and like many of the Pride’s players, there was a slight bit of regression from 2024 to 2025.

2026 Outlook

The Pride signed McCutcheon through 2028 earlier this season, so unless they trade her in the off-season she will be back with the club in 2026. Since joining the Pride in 2022, she has started nearly every NWSL game, and that likely will continue next season as well. The Pride’s issues this season were more offensive than defensive, and with nearly every key defensive player coming back, the team will plan to rely on that continuity and stability in the back while trying to figure out how to execute better on the attacking side of the field.

McCutcheon figures to be alongside Angelina in the central midfield for many of the Pride’s games next season, and the club will hope that she can replicate her offensive output while continuing to be a defensive destroyer. She is still in her prime, so I expect that she will play heavy minutes again in 2026, while reaching 100 games played with the club (she is currently at 89), and she will be one of the Pride’s key players as they target another run at the NWSL championship.

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