The Orlando Pride (4-1-0, 12 points) dropped points for the first time this season, falling 1-0 to the Washington Spirit (4-1-0, 12 points) at Inter&Co Stadium. Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse gave the ball to Gift Monday right in front of her own goal in the 63rd minute, resulting in the game’s only goal and it could hardly have been easier for the visitors to produce the winning goal.

Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made three changes to the team that beat Seattle Reign FC 1-0 on April 12. Morgan Gautrat, Angelina, and Oihane entered the lineup for Ally Lemos, Summer Yates, and Cori Dyke.

The back line in front of Moorhouse in goal was Kerry Abello, Kylie Nadaner, Emily Sams, and Oihane. Haley McCutcheon and Gautrat were the defensive midfielders behind Angelina, Marta, and Ally Watt, with Barbra Banda up top.

The Pride dominated the majority of the game. They created nearly all of the chances and should’ve taken the lead on multiple occasions. Meanwhile, the Spirit didn’t get their first chance on target until the 62nd minute. That attempt and the goal a minute later were the only two chances the Spirit put on frame all game. The mistake by Moorhouse and lack of finishing ended up being the difference as the Pride stumbled for the first time this season.

The Pride got the first chance of the game in the fourth minute when Oihane played Banda down the right. The striker got behind the Spirit back line and played the ball into the box where Angelina was running on. The Brazilian tried to get on the end of the pass, but it was just beyond her reach.

Banda dribbled into the box from the right in the ninth minute and, after beating Tara McKeown, met Narumi Miura. The midfielder made contact with the striker and the Pride players appealed for a penalty, but the referee signaled for a goal kick.

Gautrat blocked a clearance attempt in the 20th minute. The ball went straight to Banda, who was in on goal from the right. The striker’s shot for the near post, but it was right into the arms of Kingsbury.

Two minutes later, Abello received a long pass on the left side of the field. Nobody stepped up to the left back, so she carried the ball towards the top of the box. She was aiming for the far post, but Kingsbury did well to dive to her left and touch it wide.

The Pride were unable to create anything from the ensuing corner and Washington cleared the danger.

In the 26th minute, Angelina and Abello played a give-and-go, sending Angelina towards the end line. The left-sided midfielder sent a cross into the six-yard box for Banda, but it was just behind her. Watt reached the free ball and played it back to Gautrat at the top of the box, but her shot was blocked.

The Pride dominated the first half hour, making it difficult for the Spirit to get any possession in the final third. In the 30th minute, McKeown sent a cross towards the back side of the six where Esme Morgan was waiting. The defender tried to volley a shot towards goal but couldn’t get over the ball.

The Pride gave away the ensuing goal kick, creating another chance for the Spirit. This time, Ashley Hatch had a chance. The league’s top goal scorer tried to guide the ball past Moorhouse and into the top corner but sent it just high and wide.

On the other end, a long ball forward was misplayed, allowing Banda to get behind the Spirit back line. The striker dribbled in from the right and shot, but the attempt was right at Kingsbury.

In the 43rd minute, Watt carried the ball past her defender on the right and sent a low shot towards the near post. However, Kingsbury had it covered and didn’t have any trouble collecting it.

A minute later, Marta played the ball to Angelina at the top of the box. The Brazilian lifted the ball over the back line for McCutcheon, who tried to guide the ball inside the far post. Unfortunately, she sent it wide.

Despite their inability to score, the Pride dominated the first half. They ended the first 45 minutes with the advantage in possession (58%-42%), shots (10-4), shots on target (3-0), crosses (12-3), corner kicks (3-0), and passing accuracy (84%-81%).

“We were doing really well. Our press was working really well. We were blocking them in, weighing the ball,” Watt said about the halftime message. “So, yeah, coach Seb was just saying we just need to finish those chances.”

Hines made one halftime change. After suffering an injury in the first half, Oihane was replaced at right back by Dyke.

The Pride took the first shot of the second half in the 46th minute when Banda sent a long shot towards goal. Kingsbury wasn’t able to collect the ball, knocking it wide and out of play for a Pride corner kick.

The first set piece was cleared out of play and the second corner was wide, ending the threat.

In the 52nd minute, Gabrielle Carle knocked the ball back for Leicy Santos, who sent a hard shot towards goal. The ball slammed off the head of Hatch, going out of play and sending the striker to the ground. Hatch had to go through a concussion test before play was able to resume.

Hatch went down again in the 58th minute. This time she failed the concussion test and was replaced by Rosemonde Kouassi.

The Spirit finally got their first shot on target in the 62nd minute. Makenna Morris entered the Pride box from the right and took a shot, but it didn’t cause any trouble for Moorhouse.

A minute later, Moorhouse made one of the mistakes she’s known for, and it was a big one. Receiving a pass back from Sams, the goalkeeper tried to dribble out of pressure from Gift Monday. Instead, she gave the ball to the forward right in front of her own goal. It was an easy tap-in for Monday, giving the Spirit a 1-0 lead.

Persistence from Gift Monday pays off in a goal for the Spirit ‼️ pic.twitter.com/Tlk9N74BQK

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 19, 2025

“I think, for us, we want to play out of the back. And I think it’s all about finding the open player. Because obviously when a team presses the way that they do, you put yourself under pressure,” Gautrat said about the goal. “And I think, for us, since sometimes when they press well, sometimes you just have to clear it. And I think, for us, we got a little bit caught in between who was even dropping to help Anna in the moment.”

The Pride nearly equalized in the 65th minute when Abello beat Carle to get a cross off. Banda tried to flick the ball from the near post to the far post, hitting the crossbar. The ball fell to Watt and the attacker fired on target, but Morgan blocked it wide. The Pride couldn’t create anything from the ensuing corner kick and the chance ended.

“I was just focusing so hard to make sure I didn’t clear the ball over the net,” Watt said about her chance. “And I just happened to hit it right to my defender. So, I need to finish those chances.”

Hines made two more changes in the 69th minute. Lemos and Prisca Chilufya came into the game for McCutcheon and Watt in a pair of straight swaps.

Banda nearly sent Angelina through on goal in the 70th minute. The Brazilian was behind the back line, but the pass was just beyond her reach and Kingsbury was able to collect it.

In the 72nd minute, Banda was sent behind the Spirit back line. However, McKeown did well to get her body on the striker. Banda got a shot off, but she sent her shot sailing wide of the target.

Hines made his fourth change of the game in the 79th minute, replacing Gautrat with Carson Pickett.

In the 83rd minute, Banda tried to play Marta at the near post, but the ball was knocked out of play for a corner kick. Kingsbury pushed away the ensuing set piece off Carle’s head and in to even the game at 1-1.

As the Pride players celebrated, referee Elton Garcia was called to the monitor. Nadaner backed into Kingsbury on the play, impeding the goalkeeper from catching the ball. It was a quick review and the goal was correctly overturned, retaining the Spirit’s lead.

Immediately after the review, Hines made his fifth and final change of the game. Grace Chanda came on for Angelina.

In the 88th minute, Marta made a nice cut to create space from a pair of defenders. Despite the long distance, Kingsbury could only push the ball over the top for a corner kick. Unfortunately, the ensuing set piece was too close to the former Pride goalkeeper, who caught the ball and ended the attack.

Abello sent Chilufya down the right in the third minute of stoppage time. Carle slid in to intercept, but missed the ball, allowing Chilufya to get into the Spirit box. The Zambian then beat Morgan and shot for the far post. However, the ball rolled just wide for a goal kick.

In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Rebeca Bernal put her hand on Marta’s back and the Pride captain went down. Bernal contested the foul call, but the Pride had a free kick in a dangerous position. Lemos’ free kick was just over Banda’s head, but sent back in by Pickett. A poor clearance went to Marta, but the Brazilian mishit the ball.

The final chance of the game came in the ninth minute of stoppage time when Marta’s cross went through the legs of Banda at the near post. Kingsbury collected it and the Pride dropped points for the first time this season.

The Pride ended up with the advantage in possession (59.9%-40.1%), shots (20-9), shots on target (6-2), crosses (22-7), corner kicks (11-1), and passing accuracy (82.3%-77.3%). However, the poor finishing cost them dearly as the Spirit take home all three points.

“I think 99% of the match we did well. I thought we played with a real intensity,” Hines said about the performance. “I thought we put Washington under immense pressure, and obviously we need to capitalize on those moments. And the frustration is, when you dominate a game, to not get anything out of it. We should put ourselves in that position. So obviously, bitterly disappointed with the result. I thought the performance was good, but we have to move on.”

This is the first loss for the Pride at Inter&Co Stadium since Aug. 25, 2023, a 2-1 loss to San Diego Wave FC. It snapped a 22-game points streak at home (16-0-6) in all competitions after claiming points in every home game last year.

“Tough one. Obviously, we don’t like to lose. We haven’t lost at home in a long, long time,” Gautrat said. “But, I think for us, we’re still early on in the season. I thought the performance was there. Thought we dominated in all facets of the game, honestly. And I just felt like we didn’t put one away. And we gave up one chance, maybe, and I think that we were unfortunate in that. But for us, I think we move on. We learn from the loss, and it’s still early on.”

The Pride will undoubtedly see this as three points lost. They had plenty of chances to put the game away much earlier. Their inability to do so and a simple mistake cost them a home loss against a team they’ll likely be challenging for the NWSL Shield at the end of the season.

“I think we got a little bit too lax for just maybe 5-10 minutes,” Gautrat said. “And I think that that makes a huge difference in this league, because teams are good enough and the quality is good enough to punish you for that. And I think we have to have a better performance for the full 90 minutes.”

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The Pride will look to bounce back from this loss Friday night when they welcome Angel City FC to Orlando Friday night.

Welcome to your match thread as the Orlando Pride return home to face the Washington Spirit. This is the second time the teams will meet this year and the first of two regular-season games. They are scheduled to face off again in Washington on Oct. 18.

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

History

The Pride and Spirit have faced off 27 times since the Pride joined the NWSL in 2016. Orlando has a record of 10-9-8 in all competitions against Washington and a 9-6-7 record in NWSL play (regular season and playoffs combined).

The last time these two teams met was on March 7 in the NWSL Challenge Cup. In her first game back since July 6, Rafaelle netted the opening goal to give the Pride a late first-half lead. Leicy Santos equalized in the 72nd minute with a terrific strike, ending the game 1-1. The Spirit won the ensuing shootout 4-2 to claim the preseason trophy.

The first meeting of 2024 was on April 26 in Washington, D.C. Angelina gave the Pride the early lead before Ouleymata Sarr equalized shortly before halftime. A Barbra Banda strike and a Summer Yates penalty conversion in the second half seemed to put the game away, but Anna Moorhouse dropped an easy catch from Ashley Hatch, giving the Spirit a second goal. Fortunately, the Pride held on for the 3-2 win, extending their early-season winning streak to three games.

On Oct. 6, 2024 in Orlando, the Pride were dominant but didn’t convert until Marta scored in the 53rd minute. An Adriana shot was deflected by Tara McKeown for an own goal in the 73rd minute, lifting the Pride to a 2-0 win and clinching the NWSL Shield. The two teams then met on Nov. 23, 2024 in the NWSL Championship. Banda’s 37th-minute goal was the difference in the game as the Pride won their first-ever league title.

The first meeting of 2023 was on May 10 at Audi Field in NWSL Challenge Cup group play. Tori Hansen gave the Pride a surprising early lead, but late first-half goals by Lena Silano, Sam Staab, and Marissa Sheva made it 3-1 Washington at halftime. Ally Watt scored off the bench early in the second half, but Ashley Sanchez put the game away in injury time as the Spirit won 4-2.

The first regular-season matchup of 2023 was on May 20 in Orlando. Marta converted a first-half penalty, but Staab equalized five minutes later. Kylie Strom netted the winner late, and the Pride won 2-1. The Pride dominated the Spirit in the second regular-season matchup on July 1. Julie Doyle had a brace in the first 16 minutes and a McKeown own goal put the game out of reach as the Pride won 3-0.

The final meeting in 2023 was in the Challenge Cup on Aug. 4 in Orlando. The game appeared to be headed for a scoreless draw until Mariana Speckmaier scored eight minutes into second-half injury time, lifting her team to a 1-0 win.

The first game between the teams in 2022 came on May 27 at Exploria Stadium. Trinity Rodman gave the Spirit an early lead and Hatch doubled the advantage after halftime. As the game entered second-half stoppage time, it appeared as though the Pride would fall for the second straight time, but a pair of late goals by Mikayla Cluff and Darian Jenkins stunned Washington with a 2-2 draw. The teams met again on July 17 at Audi Field and the Spirit dominated the game statistically. They had more possession, shots, and shots on target but couldn’t find the back of the net, resulting in a scoreless draw.

Prior to the draw in May, the Pride and Spirit played two games in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. The first was on March 19 in Orlando, playing to a scoreless draw. 

The second Challenge Cup meeting came on April 3 at Audi Field. Gunny Jonsdottir scored the team’s first goal in four games. However, the Spirit already had a 3-0 lead. Rodman scored a late goal to put the game away as the Pride fell 4-1.

The two teams played four times during 2021. The first was on April 21 in the Challenge Cup. Sydney Leroux’s goal was the only scoring as the Pride won 1-0. Just two games later, the Pride opened their regular season by hosting the Spirit on May 16. Hatch gave Washington the lead, but Alex Morgan equalized to claim a 1-1 draw. The second regular-season meeting that year was on June 6 in Washington. Hatch opened the scoring, but Taylor Kornieck equalized minutes later, resulting in a 1-1 draw. The final meeting of 2021 came Aug. 22 at Audi Field. Marta gave the Pride the lead, but Hatch equalized just two minutes later. It looked like it would be a third straight 1-1 draw but Sanchez won it for Washington late.

Due to the pandemic, the Pride and Spirit didn’t play in 2020 but faced off three times in 2019. The first was on July 6 in Orlando. Marta scored a brace in the second half, leading the Pride to a 4-3 win. They played again on Aug. 24 in Washington. Crystal Thomas gave the hosts the lead and Marta equalized. But Hatch’s goal lifted the Spirit to a 2-1 win. The final game was supposed to be the following weekend but was postponed due to Hurricane Dorian. Instead, the game was played Oct. 9 in Orlando. The Spirit dominated the rubber match, beating the Pride 3-0.

The first of two meetings in 2018 was on March 31 at the Maryland SoccerPlex. Hatch scored a goal and added an assist in a 2-0 win for the Spirit. The Pride got their revenge in the second game in the same location. Alanna Kennedy’s goal was the difference as the Pride won 1-0. The final meeting that year was on July 7 in Orlando. Hatch gave the Spirit the lead, but Leroux scored just before halftime and Marta’s goal gave Orlando the 2-1 win.

The 2017 season was the first time the teams played three times in a year. Their April 22 meeting was the Pride’s first home game that year. Line Sigvardsen-Jensen gave the visitors the lead, but Danica Evans answered as the teams drew 1-1. They met for the second time that year in Maryland on July 8 when Marta and Mallory Pugh both scored braces in a 2-2 draw. The final game in 2018 was on Aug. 8 in Orlando. Marta, Camila, and Morgan all scored as the Pride ran away with a 3-0 win.

The Spirit swept the first two meetings in 2016, winning 2-0 in Maryland and 2-1 in Orlando.

Overview

The Pride have gotten off to a great start to the 2025 NWSL season. They started with a club record-tying 6-0 win over the Chicago Stars and followed that with wins over NJ/NY Gotham FC, San Diego Wave FC, and Seattle Reign FC.

Offensively, the Pride have a league-leading 11 goals, largely sparked by that dominant 6-0 season opener. As expected, Banda leads the team with three goals. Marta and Haley McCutcheon follow with two goals each.

The Pride back line has started this season where it left off last year. Chiamaka Okwuchukwu’s 62nd-minute goal for San Diego on March 29 is the only goal conceded in regular-season play. Only the Kansas City Current have equaled the Pride’s defensive start to the season.

The Spirit have started the season just a bit behind the Pride and Current. After winning the Challenge Cup, last year’s runners up are 3-1-0, with their only loss being a 2-0 defeat at home to the Current.

Outside of the 2-0 loss — the Current are second in the league with 10 goals scored — the Spirit have only conceded once. The last two games have been 2-0 wins over Bay FC and Racing Louisville FC.

The Spirit are led offensively by the always-dangerous Hatch. The U.S. international has four of the team’s six goals, with Santos and Makenna Morris splitting the other two. Santos, Esme Morgan, and Narumi Muira each have one assist so far this year.

Former Pride goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury remains the starter in net for the Spirit. The shot stopper has 13 saves — fourth in the league — and an 0.75 goals-against average — third in the league.

In front of Kingsbury is a strong center back pairing of Tara McKeown and Rebeca Bernal. Casey Krueger and Gabrielle Carle have been the fullbacks until the most recent game when Krueger was out with a knee injury.

“Two teams that are competing to ultimately win the shield. So, there’s not a lot of room for error. It’s fine margins,” Pride Head Coach Seb Hines said about tonight’s game. “They are coming to our place and we want to make that hostile environment with the fans coming out and supporting us. But it should turn out to be an entertaining game. Like I said, both teams are in a good run of form, and so we’re hoping we get the good side of it by getting the three points.”

There’s only one change to the Pride availability report today. Simone Charley (ankle), Luana (illness), Amanda Allen (shoulder), Aryssa Mahrt (knee), Julie Doyle (knee), and Rafaelle (thigh) remain out. They’re joined by Summer Yates (foot) who suffered an injury while assisting Banda’s goal in Seattle on April 12.

The Spirit have an extensive injury list, including Croix Bethune (hip), Emma Gaines-Ramos (knee), Hal Hershfelt (ankle), Lyza Jessee (wrist), Krueger (knee), Paige Metayer (knee), Brittany Ratcliffe (lower leg), Trinity Rodman (back), Ouleye Sarr (back), Andi Sullivan (knee), and Kate Wiesner (hip) all out. Santos (ankle) is questionable.

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Official 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.

Bench: McKinley Crone, Carson Pickett, Cori Dyke, Bri Martinez, Zara Chavoshi, Ally Lemos, Viviana Villacorta, Grace Chanda, Prisca Chilufya.

Washington Spirit (5-3-2)

Goalkeeper: Aubrey Kingsbury.

Defenders: Makenna Morris, Gabrielle Carle, Tara McKeown, Rebeca Bernal, Esme Morgan.

Midfielders: Narumi Miura, Heather Stainbrook, Courtney Brown.

Forwards: Ashley Hatch, Gift Monday.

Bench: Sandy MacIver, Leicy Santos, Rosemonde Kouassi, Kysha Sylla, Kiley Dulaney, Meg Boade, Chloe Ricketts.

Referees

REF: Elton Garcia.
AR1: John Krill.
AR2: Tiffini Turpin.
4TH: Alejo Calume.
VAR: Greg Dopka.
AVAR: Brian Marshall.

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How to Watch

Match Time: 5 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV: Ion.

Streaming: Prime Video.

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

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Enjoy the game. Go Pride!

We are four games into the 2025 Orlando Pride season, and the symmetry of 360 minutes played and looking at the full 360 degrees of the Pride’s performance thus far was too perfect to pass up. A circle, as you all remember from geometry, or trigonometry, or Sesame Street, is perfectly symmetrical, as it can be divided into two congruent parts by any diameter. We will break this article into two parts as well, and I hope you are sitting down because it might shock you that those two parts will be the Pride’s performance thus far on….offense and defense.

Let’s start with offense, as that first letter o looks an awful lot like a circle and we are on a (donut-shaped) roll. The Pride’s offense is off to a fantastic start, with a league-leading 11 goals scored through the first four matches. They have actually scored nine of those goals themselves, seven from open play and two from penalty kicks, and their opponents put two into their own net as well to give them 11. No other Pride team had scored more than six goals through their first four matches, so this squad is off to an unprecedentedly fast start.

The Pride’s performance is not just excellent compared to their own history, but they are near the top in most of the key offensive categories. If you look at Opta’s tracking in the table below you can see how well they have done relative to the rest of the league (all data sourced from fbref.com and fotmob.com; goals scored excludes own goals and NWSL Avg. is the average of every team excluding the Pride).

Metric	2025 Performance	Rank in NWSL	NWSL Avg.
Goals Scored	9	2	4.5
Shots on Target %	38%	5	34%
Goal Conversion per Shot	15%	3	8%
Expected Goals (xG)	6.4	3	5.1
Goals – Expected Goals	+2.6	13	-0.6
Big Chances Created	7	4	6.6
Big Chances Conversion Rate	71%	2	38%

The one major offensive stat that is not great on the above chart is goals – expected goals. That stat is pronounced as “goals minus expected goals,” and is calculated thusly: nine goals scored minus 6.4 expected goals gives the value of +2.6. This means that while the Pride were only expected to score 6.4 goals, they actually scored nine, and so it could be interpreted that they are overperforming, and have been lucky.

Expected goals are really just the measure of how often goals are scored from the locations where the shot was taken from, and so while one interpretation could be that the Pride’s players were lucky, another could be that the Pride’s players are really good, and are simply outperforming the historical expectation that is used for xG. The Pride have Barbra Banda and Marta, two players who were named to the 2024 FIFPro World 11 team (and just received their trophies this week), and a wealth of attacking talent around them, and so while the stats say that the Pride may be benefitting from luck, I think the statisticians might need to circle back on those calculations when there are Pride players on the field.

The last two rows of that table show data about “big chances,” and how the Pride are creating almost two per game. The Pride create their chances off the dribble more than any other team in the NWSL, and they also create their chances by being more accurate with their passes and taking care of the ball better than any other team in the NWSL, as you can see in this table below:

Metric	2025 Performance	Rank in NWSL	NWSL Avg.
Progressive Carries per 90	17.5	1	12.3
Carries into the 18 per 90	8.0	1	3.9
Long Passes Completed per 90	37.5	3	30.5
Long Passes Completion Rate	59%	1	48%
Short + Med. Passes Completion Rate	87%	1	83%
Miscontrols per 90	13.0	1	18.7

The Pride’s offense picked up where it left off last season, which makes sense considering they brought back most of their pieces from that 2024 team. They did add one significant new piece, Prisca Chilufya, and she has fit right in as a player with pace and skills who has averaged nearly 30 minutes per game coming off the bench. The team may be without Julie Doyle and Summer Yates for a while though, as both suffered injuries during the first four matches, though the team has yet to announce the severity for either. We still have yet to see Grace Chanda on the field for the Pride, and with the Doyle and Yates’s returns still to be determined, the Pride will need Chanda or another player to provide depth minutes behind the usual starting group of Angelina, Marta, Ally Watt and Banda.

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Switching over from the top half of the circle to the bottom half, the Pride’s defense has played even better defensively than the offense has offensively. The Mane Land’s Sean Rollins covered some of this in his excellent article earlier this week on the Pride’s defensive lineup configurations, but the team has given up only one goal in four games, and that goal had to go to video review before it was given. The Pride’s defense has been smothering, and if we look at the same stats we did for the Pride’s offense — but consider them in terms of what the Pride are allowing from the offenses of their opponents — we can see just how well they are playing (same notes as earlier the data source and the definitions):

Metric	2025 Performance	Rank in NWSL	NWSL Avg.
Goals Allowed	1	1	5.1
Shots on Target % Allowed	29%	2	35%
Goal Conversion per Shot Allowed	2%	1	10%
Expected Goals (xG) Allowed	4.3	4	5.3
Goals Allowed – xG Allowed	-3.3	1	-0.2
Big Chances Allowed	4	4	6.8
Big Chances Conversion Rate Against	25%	4	40%

The Pride are not allowing real goals or even very many expected goals, and the credit definitely should be shared between Anna Moorhouse, with her 91.7% save percentage and her overperformance (+1.6) in the messily acronymed PSxG +/- (PSxG = post-shot expected goals, a measure of how well a ball was struck by the attacking player; Moorhouse’s positive value means that Opta, the coders, viewed that the shots taken by the opponents were taken well, but Moorhouse still saved them), and also the defensive back line, which has had Kerry Abello, Kylie Nadaher, and Emily Sams on the field for 1,064 of 1,080 possible minutes, and then a mix of Cori Dyke (222), Rafaelle (107), Oihane Hernández (30), Carson Pickett (16), Zara Chavoshi (4), and Bri Martinez (1) for the rest of the minutes.

The recent addition of Hernández is almost a champagne problem, as with so many high-level defenders, there will not be enough minutes to go around. Competition will be fierce, and iron sharpers iron, so this is a good thing, but there will inevitably be some frustrated players for the Pride’s coaching staff to manage. With some of the recent injuries in the midfield, perhaps some of these defenders may be considered as possible backups for wing attacking positions, but those injured players will eventually return, as will some of the players from the long-term injured list (we hope), and the upshot is that the Pride have an incredibly deep team with the best problem to have: more good players than available minutes.

We are only four games into the season, so it is far too early for anything other than statements about early trends, but these early trends have definitely been positive. The Pride have 12 points from a possible 12 and the stats on both offense and defense emphatically back up the the 100% record.

And that is not circular reasoning.