Photo Galleries
2023 SheBelieves Cup Round 1 Photo Gallery

After Japan and Brazil provided the appetizer, the United States Women’s National Team took to the Exploria Stadium pitch Thursday night for a showdown with rival Canada in the first round of the 2023 SheBelieves Cup. The event has stopped regularly at Exploria Stadium over the years since its inception and Thursday’s play opened the 2023 rendition of the competition.
Japan and Brazil played to a stalemate until Orlando Pride forward Marta entered the match just past the halfway mark in the second half. It was her first match appearance since undergoing knee surgery in spring of 2022 and it took her only a few minutes to make an impact. She threaded a perfect pass through the Japanese defense from the left that allowed teammate Debinha to make an easy finish. It turned out to be the only score of the game as the Brazilians took the opener, 1-0. Pride forward Adriana played the first half on the wing and the second half as a deep-lying midfielder in her first game at Exploria Stadium since being signed by the home team.
Prior to the second game, former Pride forward Alex Morgan was honored for earning 200 career international caps. The USWNT then joined Canada in a show of solidarity at midfield. The Canadian women had a difficult week as they face a battle for fair treatment from their federation. A potential strike loomed over the event earlier in the week, but Ontario labor laws prohibited that from happening due to a lack of adequate notice before the match.
After the nightcap kicked off, the United States jumped on Canada early with intense pressure and a couple of strikes from Mallory Swanson. The Yanks nearly gave one back late in the half but saw out the opening period with a two-goal lead. There were opportunities to extend the lead in the second half but the U.S. attackers were wasteful — particularly substitute Ashley Hatch, who had two excellent opportunities to make it three. Hatch has rarely missed an opportunity to score at Exploria Stadium before, so it was a little strange to see her waste two high-percentage chances.
In the end, the USWNT held on for a 2-0 win to maintain its perfect record at Exploria Stadium. By virtue of a better goal differential, the U.S. headed to Round 2 in Nashville atop the competition’s standings.
We hope you enjoy these images from an exciting night of international soccer in the City Beautiful.
Images: Dan MacDonald
Words: Michael Citro
Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Inter Miami: Photo Gallery
An album of images from Orlando City’s hard-fought draw at home against the Herons.

The Lions brought much more roar on Sunday night to face their southern rivals but had trouble finding the net, allowing the Herons to nick a point even while short staffed. None of Miami’s high-priced talent traveled for the match after facing Toronto midweek, and physicality ensued, firing up the sold-out crowd at Exploria Stadium.
Talking with some of the other photographers on the sideline who had flown in for this match, they rated the Orlando atmosphere top-notch; in their experience, other cities don’t compare to the in-stadium fan enthusiasm.
The Lions were in “the net is lava” mode, with Duncan McGuire and Iván Angulo each missing prime one-on-one chances with Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender in each half, McGuire leaving it straight at Callendar, and Angulo badly missing the net after a missed first touch. So of course Miami struck first, with David Ruíz scoring early in the second half.
This fired the Lions up even more and Martín Ojeda pinballed McGuire in behind the Miami back line, allowing Duncan to do what Duncan does to draw the score level. The Lions generally looked the more dangerous team for most (but not all) of the night. However, it is scoring goals that actually counts, leaving both teams unchanged in their respective Eastern Conference standings. Orlando remains second at 14-7-9, while Miami stays in 14th at 9-15-5.
The Lions continue to control their own destiny in terms of getting a top-four finish as they look to lock up home field advantage for a best-of-three matchup in the MLS Cup playoffs.
With home dates left against Montreal and a sputtering-but-dangerous New England remaining, there’s still plenty of time to be part of that world-class gameday atmosphere by going out to support the team as they push for a strong finish.
We hope that you enjoy these images from a hard-fought, come-from-behind draw against Inter Miami at Exploria Stadium.
Photo Galleries
Orlando City vs. St. Louis City SC: Photo Gallery
An album of images from Orlando City’s late 2-1 win over St. Louis City SC at Exploria Stadium.

Orlando City (12-6-7, 43 points) and St. Louis City (14-9-2, 44 points) met Saturday night in a clash of the “City SCs” and the game did not disappoint. The teams provided a high-tempo, physical affair without devolving into a chippy tit-for-tat, and that should have left every fan well entertained at the close of the evening. (Yes, even St. Louis fans, although they may need to let the sting of the 2-1 Lions victory settle for a little bit.)
The first half was not short of chances for either team, but both teams did well to limit the other’s final opportunities, allowing only a handful of shots apiece in the first half with only Duncan McGuire’s effort forcing a save by the opposing goalkeeper.
Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Facundo Torres came out of the break firing immediately, changing up their run patterns to allow Thorhallsson to lead Torres into space. Torres then worked his finishing magic to lift the Lions into the lead. Orlando City continued limiting St. Louis to low-probability chances from distance until the 79th minute, when finally the Lions conceded on a controversial call that once again demonstrates that PRO does not understand the meanings of ‘clear’ and ‘obvious,’ but alas.
Orlando redoubled its efforts to press for the win in the remaining time and was rewarded with Ramiro Enrique forcing a yellow card by Jake Nerwinski and Rafael Santos forcing a penalty kick for handball with a canon of a shot off Anthony Markanich during the resulting restart. Torres converted the penalty to complete his brace in the 91st minute and put Orlando in the lead.
The game was far from over, however, as nine minutes of stoppage time were added. Mostly this consisted of St. Louis desperately stretching for an equalizer, but as the game approached the end of stoppage time, late sub Jack Lynn sprung Enrique in behind, forcing Nerwinski to take him down in a red-card, last-man challenge just outside the box. Martin Ojeda made a valiant effort to make it three on the restart with the last kick of the game, but the effort was right at Roman Burki and the final whistle sounded immediately after 101 minutes of soccer.
As you can imagine, a high-tempo game can lead to some high-action images, so we hope you enjoy these photos of the excitement of the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.
Photo Galleries
Orlando Pride vs. San Diego Wave FC: Photo Gallery
An album of images from the Pride’s 2-1 loss at Exploria Stadium.

Marta channeled Star Wars Night at Exploria Stadium with a blaster-bolt of a cross to Adriana to score the Pride’s lone goal, but the Wave’s Kyra Carusa mastered the Jedi mind trick (“I am not the runner you are looking for.”) to nod home a winner, allowing the visitors to escape with all three points.
It was a beautiful night, and a strong crowd of 7,556 turned out. The Pride played well, dominating most of the stats, but a missed clearance and the aforementioned mental lapse on two corner kicks left them just short. Costumes, banners and tifos embraced the Star Wars theme, making for a very fun and festive atmosphere. (And the soccer was pretty good too!)
Despite the disappointing result, we hope you enjoy the photos of a fun night at Exploria Stadium.
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