Orlando Pride

Orlando Pride Are Again in Free Fall as Season Closes

Published

2 years ago

September 26, 2022

The Orlando Pride are doing it again. Since the team’s first NWSL season in 2016, it has become an annual tradition for the Pride to go into freefall in the final weeks of the season. With the exception of the club’s 2017 playoff season, Orlando has hit a winless downward spiral to finish out each year, regardless of who is playing and coaching the squad.

The traditional collapse is in full swing again as 2022 draws to a close.

In the team’s inaugural season, the Pride were 6-6-0 on July 10 and a postseason berth in the team’s first year seemed possible. But the team tanked the rest of the way with an eight-game winless streak to end the year, with seven of those matches ending in losses and just one of them a draw. It was a disappointing end to what had been a solid inaugural year that began with four wins in a five-game stretch in the first two months of the NWSL campaign. The Pride won three straight that year from May 8-20 and sat at 4-2-0 before finishing 2-11-1 with that eight-game winless skid providing most of those losses.

By contrast, and (so far) serving as the lone exception that proves the rule, Orlando finished the 2017 regular season on a nine-match unbeaten streak (6-0-3), reaching the playoffs for the first time with a record of 11-6-7. Sure, the team got mauled in Portland in its lone postseason appearance to date, but that final stretch run was incredible. It was also, unfortunately, unique.

Orlando seemed poised for a return to the postseason in 2018. Despite a slow start to the year in which the Pride won only once in their first five matches (1-2-2), the team was sitting pretty at 8-6-4 by July 14 after a road win at Utah, with a chance to return to the playoffs with a strong finish. But the Pride went the other way. A pair of home draws against Seattle — OL Reign was known as the Seattle Reign then —and Sky Blue FC (now NJ/NY Gotham FC) weren’t devastating but they did kick off a six-match winless streak to end the year. Orlando finished with losses to Portland, North Carolina, Chicago, and Sky Blue, and the Pride scored only one goal in that four-game stretch, getting outscored 9-1.

The 2019 season was a disaster from the start, with Orlando starting the year 0-7-2 and sinking to the bottom of the NWSL standings. But the Pride won four of the next eight games to “climb” to 4-11-2 on the season before the bottom dropped out yet again. After a 2-1 win at Chicago on Aug. 21, 2019, the Pride finished on a seven-game winless skid (0-5-2) and ended the year just 4-16-4. The team managed to draw two of its last three after a four-game losing streak, but it was yet another downward spiral to close out the season. Whatever the opposite of “finishing strong” is, the Pride had mastered it.

It’s probably not fair to even count 2020 among these poor finishes, because the season was canceled essentially. The NWSL teams took part in two competitions — the NWSL Challenge Cup and the NWSL Fall Series. The Pride, however, did not take part in the Challenge Cup due to COVID issues within the team that surfaced just before the team was set to take part. Orlando participated in the Fall Series and failed to win a single game, going 0-2-2 in four matches to “close” the season on a four-game winless streak and run the team’s winless streak in all competitions to 11 matches (0-7-4).

The 2021 Orlando Pride campaign began with a ton of promise. Marc Skinner led the team to just a 1-1-2 record in the Challenge Cup before the regular season, but the team got out to its strongest start ever, going seven matches without a loss in a 4-0-3 run. The team then went winless in six straight (0-4-2) to fall to 4-4-5. That stretch coincided with rumors that Skinner was headed back to England to coach Manchester United, his departure, Carl Green coaching the team to a 2-0 home loss in the first match without Skinner, and Becky Burleigh leading the team to a 1-1 draw at North Carolina in her first game as the club’s interim coach.

The team seemed to more or less right the ship with a 3-1-2 run in the next five games and had a shot at a playoff run when sitting at 7-5-7 on Sept. 11. And then it happened again. Orlando lost its last five consecutive games, getting shut out three times in that span and the Pride were outscored 11-3 down the stretch.

Orlando began a major rebuild after the 2021 season. Big-name stars were sent to other teams and the Pride chose to go with a lot of younger players and some holdover veterans. Not much was expected in 2022 as new coach Amanda Cromwell arrived, but there was some satisfaction in getting to see which young players developed and how the team would augment the roster to build around them. The Pride tried many different players in the Challenge Cup and went 0-4-2, failing to score in the first three games and getting outscored 11-4. The team then lost its opener 3-0 at home to Gotham.

But the team seemed to be correcting course under Cromwell, getting a result in the next three games, including road wins at Angel City and North Carolina. The team was suddenly 2-1-1 and limiting the opposition’s offense after surrendering 12 goals in the previous four matches. And then, well…something happened. We still don’t know what. But the team got shelled in a 4-2 loss to Chicago, managed to draw a bad Washington Spirit side thanks solely to a pair of goals deep in stoppage time to erase a 2-0 hole, and then tied its worst loss in club history in a 5-0 beatdown at Houston.

Cromwell and one assistant coach were placed on administrative leave, two other assistant coaches decided to take personal leave rather than pick up the pieces, and Seb Hines was the last one standing, taking over as the team’s interim coach without a staff under him. Hines struggled out of the gate with back-to-back shutout losses, including a franchise worst 6-0 defeat at Portland.

But then, improbably, Hines got the team playing better. With help from former Orlando City forward Giles Barnes as an interim assistant coach and some help from Miguel Gallardo on a volunteer basis, Hines led the team to an incredible seven-match unbeaten run. It started with another two-goal comeback — this time to draw Racing Louisville 2-2 at the Daytona Soccer Fest at the Daytona International Speedway. The team then beat Houston on a late own goal and played the Spirit to a scoreless draw on the road. Two more draws had the unbeaten run at five games, albeit just a modest 1-0-4 run. Hines then took the team to San Diego and got a huge 1-0 shutout win over the Wave and backed that up with a 2-1 win at Gotham.

The team was back to the .500 mark at 5-5-6 and just three points below the playoff line. It had gone seven matches without a loss and seemed to finally find a way to turn those draws into wins. A home win over the Reign would have pushed the Pride just above the playoff line with five matches remaining.

But the Pride reverted to their old ways. Orlando led the Reign 1-0 at halftime. But the visitors leveled things early in the second half. Still, a draw wouldn’t have been the end of the world and the game went into stoppage time tied at 1-1. Then the Pride fell asleep and conceded a 92nd-minute goal to Megan Rapinoe and things have only unraveled from there.

The team has now gone five consecutive matches without a win, losing the first four of those games by a combined 9-1 and getting shut out three straight times against Portland, Louisville, and North Carolina. Orlando then threw away a 2-0 lead late at home Sunday night against San Diego.

If the team doesn’t win at OL Reign this Saturday night — and the Pride are 0-3-3 on the road against all incarnations of the Reign combined — it will cap yet another winless free fall at the end of the season. It will be the team’s sixth collapse in seven years (or fifth in six if you only want to count “normal” seasons). Any way you look at it, it’s a worrying trend that the team finishes so meekly when in several of those seasons there was a realistic chance to make the postseason with a strong close to the year.

The team has one game remaining and it’s largely meaningless, except to the Reign, who have a shot at the Supporters Shield. However, the Pride can make a statement on Saturday with a win. They can show supporters that it’s time for a change in Orlando with an ending that isn’t yet another loss or draw in a long string of them. They can tell fans that things are turning around. They can provide hope for 2023 by breaking the cycle.

The Orlando Pride have not won a game after Sept. 11 in any season except 2017. Historical data says they’ll lose again on Saturday night. Hopefully they can put an end to that tradition and finish on an unexpectedly high note.

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

3 hours ago

January 22, 2025

Michael Citro

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)

Orlando Pride

Orlando Pride Announce 2025 Preseason Camp Roster

Published

2 days ago

January 20, 2025

Michael Citro

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

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

4 days ago

January 18, 2025

S. Andrew DeSalvo

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.