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Orlando Pride vs. Portland Thorns: Final Score 2-0 as Pride Drop Second Straight

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2 years ago

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The Orlando Pride (5-7-6, 21 points) dropped their second consecutive game, falling to the Portland Thorns (8-3-7, 31 points) 2-0 at Exploria Stadium. Yazmeen Ryan opened the scoring in the 31st minute and Hina Sugita doubled the visitors’ lead in the 65th minute.

This was the second time that these two teams met during the 2022 NWSL season. The first meeting was a dominant 6-0 win by Portland at Providence Park. While the Pride weren’t beaten as badly in this one, it was just as dominant of a performance by the Thorns.

The first half was almost all Portland as the Pride didn’t even get a shot off until the 36th minute. They were much more competitive in the second half, but the best chances were still created by the visitors.

Pride Interim Head Coach Seb Hines made three changes to the team that lost 2-1 to OL Reign two weeks ago. Erin McLeod was in concussion protocol, giving backup Anna Moorhouse the opportunity to start for the first time since the NWSL Challenge Cup. Toni Pressley re-entered the lineup for Carrie Lawrence and Mikayla Cluff took the place of Viviana Villacorta, who had season-ending ankle surgery after sustaining an injury against OL Reign.

The back four in front of Moorhouse for this game was Celia, Megan Montefusco, Pressley, and Kylie Strom. Jordyn Listro and Meggie Dougherty Howard were in the defensive midfield behind Cluff, Erika Tymrak, and Kerry Abello, with Julie Doyle up top.

The first chance of the game was in the fourth minute when Natalia Kuikka sent a long ball for Sophia Smith. However, Montefusco played it well and was able to knock it out of play. The ensuing corner by Sam Coffey found the head of Morgan Weaver but the header was wide.

The second chance of the game came in the 11th minute when Kuikka sent a cross in from the left, again looking for Smith. The U.S. international appeared to have a chance at goal but Montefusco did well again to step in front and knock it out of play. The corner by Ryan was turned on goal by Kelli Hubly but was over the crossbar.

In the 18th minute, Portland had its third chance of the game off of a Pride turnover. Attempting to work the ball out of the back, a poor pass by Listro for Cluff resulted in the latter tipping the ball to Sugita. The turnover allowed Sugita space to shoot from the top of the box but it was right to Moorhouse.

The first multiple-shot attack of the game came in the 24th minute. A shot by Smith from the left side of the box was blocked away by Moorhouse but the Thorns maintained possession. Smith received the ball back and made a nice turn to beat her defender and get into the box. But the ball got a bit too far from her and Pressley cleared it out of play for a corner kick. The ensuing corner by Coffey was caught by Moorhouse.

After dominating the possession and chances, the Thorns finally broke through in the 31st minute. It started in the back when Becky Sauerbrunn played Meghan Klingenberg to the left. She found Weaver making a run towards the corner and the forward quickly sent the ball into the box. Ryan was there to get on the end of the cross and put it past Moorhouse for the game’s opening goal.

The Pride finally got their first chance at goal in the 36th minute. A hard challenge by Ryan on Strom gave the Pride a free kick outside the top left corner of the box. Dougherty Howard sent the cross in for Cluff, who turned and shot, but a defender got a foot to it and Portland cleared.

The Pride got their best chance of the first half in the 40th minute when Olivia Moultrie fouled Tymrak just outside of the box. Pressley stepped up to the ball, looking to smash it towards goal, but the free kick was off the wall and out for a corner kick.

The ensuing corner by Tymrak found the head of Cluff near the top of the six-yard box. The young midfielder attempted to send the ball inside the far post but it went just wide for a Thorns goal kick.

A minute later, Dougherty Howard sent Abello down the left side of the field. Hubly stepped up to defend, but Abello played it around her, beating Hubly with her speed. It looked like Abello would have a good shot on goal, but the defender recovered, knocking her off balance. As a result, the shot was wide of the near post.

“It’s hot here. It gets humid,” Hines said about the team getting better chances at the end of the first half. “It’s a difficult environment to play in. And that’s where we’ve ended games — first halves and second halves — better because we adapted to the environment. We’ve pushed the players extremely hard and fitness levels and, you know, we just need to get that reward at the end of the day.”

The first 45 minutes were dominated by the visitors. Portland led the first half in possession (55.8%-44.2%), shots (10-4), shots on target (5-0), corners (3-1), crosses (8-2), and passing accuracy (87.1%-74.5%).

“The last few games we’ve started a little bit flat, you know, been timid,” Cluff said about the first half. “I don’t know if that’s because of who we know we’re playing. It’s a better opponent than the last games before that.”

The second half started similarly to how most of the first half went. In the 47th minute, a Smith shot was blocked out of play by Pressley for a corner. It didn’t result in a shot, but the Pride were unable to clear. Courtney Petersen, who came on for Erika Tymrak at the half, won the ball and tried to play it across the field but sent it directly to a Thorns player.

The Thorns continued to maintain possession and had a great chance to double their lead in the 49th minute. Quick passing allowed Klingenberg to find Ryan near the penalty spot. The first-half goal scorer fired with no defenders near her but hit it well high of the target.

In the first half, the Pride weren’t able to get a shot off until the 36th minute. However, they got off to a better attacking start in the second 45 minutes. In the 52nd minute, Petersen drew two defenders near the end line and found Dougherty Howard at the top corner of the box. The midfielder attempted to curl the ball inside the far post but missed wide.

Two minutes later, an aggressive takedown of Strom by Kuikka gave the Pride a free kick. Dougherty Howard sent the ball into the box where it landed at the foot of Listro. She quickly fired towards goal but her shot was blocked, allowing Portland to clear.

The visitors had another good chance to double their lead in the 57th minute when Kuikka sent a long ball towards the back post. Weaver was charging in but the ball tailed toward the goal line. Moorhouse did well to tip the ball away or it either would have snuck just inside the far post or would’ve been met by Weaver. Instead, it was a corner kick.

Portland doubled its lead in the 65th minute after picking up possession by taking it from Dougherty Howard near midfield. Moultrie carried the ball inside the box but was turned back away from goal. Instead of looking for her own shot, she played it back to Sugita outside of the box. Since no Pride defenders stepped up, Sugita decided to have a go at goal. The shot didn’t initially look very dangerous, but Moorhouse didn’t seem to see it until the last second and it went off the inside of the far post and in to increase the Portland lead to 2-0.

“I thought it was going wide,” Moorhouse said about conceding the goal. “I got my bearings just a little bit off. But, to be fair, she put it in off the post so it was right in the corner. So I’m going to have to come up with something special to even keep that out.”

Portland had a great chance for a third from the team’s leading goal scorer in the 74th minute. The Thorns had a transition opportunity and Weaver found Smith in the box with no defenders around her. Moorhouse decided to stay on her line instead of coming out to cut down her angle, but Smith’s shot was well over the goal.

As time wound down, the Pride created some chances, trying to get back into the game. This included a long-distance shot by Cluff, a free kick into the box by substitute Thais Reiss, and a header towards goal by Montefusco off a corner. But none of these chances were on target and Portland went home with a 2-0 win.

In the end, Portland led the Pride in every meaningful statistical category. The Thorns had more possession (60.6%-39.4%), shots (19-10), shots on target (8-1), corners (7-6), crosses (16-13), and passing accuracy (86.8%-75.1%).

“A tough one. Portland are a top team,” Hines said about the performance. “They’re obviously high on the table. It’s another good test for us and a good test to see where we’re at in terms of our progression. And, you know, I felt like we were a little bit off today, a little bit off of our passing. There was moments where we won the ball. We didn’t really threaten them behind. We’re all showing to feet, which encouraged their press even more. And, you know, we didn’t do our principles to the fullest.”

“I think what Seb said in the huddle after the game, we just need to keep going as a team and being together,” Moorhouse added. “We’ve just played two tough teams and we’ve done in most parts well against them. I think we need to stick to our principles a little bit more against the tough teams and keep playing our game and not give them too much respect to come here especially and play that game. So we need to disrupt the bigger teams a little bit more from their own game.”

Prior to the OL Reign game two weeks ago, two of the last three games were against teams currently out of a playoff spot. Facing better teams, they’ve now lost two in a row. The next two games are against teams out of the playoffs so the Pride have an opportunity to claim points.

The loss keeps the Pride in eighth in the NWSL standings with just four games remaining in the season. They’ll look to break their current losing streak next Friday night when they take on Racing Louisville in Kentucky.

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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.

Published

18 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

Published

3 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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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

5 days ago

on

January 18, 2025

By

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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