Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride vs. Kansas City Current: Final Score 2-1 as Pride’s Home Winning Streak Ends
Two first-half goals doom the Pride as they fall to Kansas City for the second time this season.

The Orlando Pride (4-8-1, 13 points) lost for the first time at Exploria Stadium in four games, falling 2-1 to the Kansas City Current (4-9-0, 12 points). Debinha gave the visitors the lead in the 29th minute and Cece Kizer doubled the advantage just before halftime. Marta converted a penalty in the second half, but the Pride couldn’t find an equalizer, getting swept by the Current in the season series.
Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made three changes from the team that lost 3-0 to the North Carolina Courage last weekend. Jordyn Listro, Kerry Abello, and Marta entered the lineup for Julie Doyle, Ally Watt, and Messiah Bright. The lineup changes resulted in a formation shift, with Listro playing in the defensive midfield and Mikayla Cluff moving into more of an attacking role.
The Pride came out in a 4-1-4-1 formation instead of their usual 4-2-3-1. The defensive unit remained the same with Kylie Strom, Emily Madril, Megan Montefusco, and Haley McCutcheon in front of Anna Moorhouse. Listro was the defensive midfielder behind Abello, Viviana Villacorta, Cluff, and Marta. Adriana was the lone forward.
“Just wanted to have more midfielders, control the game a little bit better,” Hines said about the lineup and formation change. “Obviously, you know, against North Carolina, we didn’t control the game at all. It’s very transitional, so we needed to change that.”
“I think we expected them to come out with two sixes and they came out with two 10s,” Madril said about the formation. “And so we switched our midfield to play one six.”
Marta’s appearance was her 95th as a member of the Pride, passing former center back Toni Pressley for the most appearances in club history.
The Pride’s lineup changes greatly impacted the game with the team looking out of sorts during the first half. Hines shifted the team back to its usual 4-2-3-1 formation, but it was too late. The Pride looked much better in the second half with their usual formation and starters, but they already trailed 2-0 and Kansas City was able to hold onto their lead.
The visitors suffered an odd injury to their starting left back in the fourth minute when Hailie Mace reached out for Cluff as she streaked through the midfield. The defender immediately held her left arm, apparently injuring her shoulder. Mace was in tears as she left the field and was replaced by Izzy Rodriguez four minutes later.
The Pride took advantage of Mace’s absence, creating the game’s first attack in the fifth minute. Cluff took the game’s first shot, but it was blocked by Elizabeth Ball. The Pride retained possession when Adriana headed it back to Marta, who shot from long distance. But her attempt was easily collected by Current goalkeeper Cassie Miller.
Kansas City had its first chance of the game in the 12th minute when Rodriguez’s cross was cleared to the far side of the box. Kate Del Fava ended up with the ball, sending it back to the top of the six-yard box. Kristen Hamilton was there to receive the pass with no defenders in front of her, but Moorhouse did well to get down and block the shot out of play.
The Current had a second opportunity in the 16th minute when Cluff challenged Michelle Cooper, getting the ball, but the young attacker went down and got the call just outside of the Pride box. Debinha stepped up to take the set piece, but sent it into the arms of Moorhouse.
In the 18th minute, Adriana made a run through the midfield behind Gabrielle Robinson and Villacorta sent her through. Robinson did well to keep up with the Brazilian, but Adriana used her quick change of pace to create enough space for a shot. Unfortunately, her low shot towards the back post rolled wide.
The visitors took the lead in the 29th minute when Abello lost the ball to Vanessa DiBernardo immediately after receiving a pass from Strom. DiBernardo’s touch was forward to Debinha, who quickly lifted the ball over Moorhouse, who was off her line, and in to give Kansas City the 1-0 lead.
“We gave them a gift,” Hines said about the opening goal. “And they scored a simple goal.”
In the 33rd minute, Adriana created a chance for the Pride after using a nice first touch to beat Morgan Gautrat. Abello was making a diagonal run into the box with Del Fava on her hip and the Brazilian playmaker sent her through. Abello got a shot off, but Del Fava got in front to block the attempt.
On the other end, Kansas City created an opportunity when Debinha’s attempt was blocked out by Madril. The ensuing corner found the head of Robinson in the box and the ball appeared to be headed just under the crossbar. But Moorhouse did well to tip it over the goal.
The Current doubled their lead in the first minute of first-half stoppage time. After receiving a pass back outside of the Pride box, Ball sent DiBernardo towards the end line. The midfielder’s first touch was back across goal, where Kizer was running in. McCutcheon was with Kizer, but she got a fortunate bounce, enabling her to pass the ball inside the far post to give the Current a 2-0 lead.
“You never want to give up goals but especially towards the end of the first half,” Hines said about the goal. “We talk about the big five moments, the start of the first half, the end of the first half as well. That’s where you have to be switched on, clued in. You know, we had numbers behind the ball. We had players in the back third, but we just didn’t get close enough. Like we didn’t get close enough to put a body on Kansas and, you know, they took their goals well.”
Despite the scoreline, it was a pretty even first half. The Pride had slightly more possession (53.1%-46.9%) and both teams had six shots. But Kansas City put five of their six shots on target and the Pride only put one on frame. The Pride also had more crosses (8-7) and the Current had more corners (3-1) and better passing accuracy (85.8%-83.8%).
Down a pair of goals after 45 minutes, Hines made two halftime changes, bringing in Messiah Bright and Julie Doyle for Abello and Listro. The Pride also went back to a 4-2-3-1 formation in the second half, dropping Cluff and Villacorta to their usual positions in the defensive midfield and Adriana back to attacking midfield so Bright could move up top.
“You’re chasing the game a little bit in the first half. So we felt like we needed to change some personnel,” Hines said about the halftime substitutions. “We needed to change formation, have a little bit more intent in our press, put them under pressure.”
The Current had the first chance of the second half when Debinha sent Cooper behind the Pride defense. The attacker cut twice to lose Madril, but Montefusco moved over for support and Moorhouse came off her line to prevent Cooper from getting a shot off.
In the 56th minute, Bright sent a cross into the box for Adriana making a near-post run, but Robinson knocked it out for a corner kick. The ensuing set piece by Adriana bounced around before arriving with Doyle at the top of the box. The shot by the halftime substitute went off Hamilton and wide.
Referee Eric Tattersall immediately decided the ball went off the arm of Hamilton, issuing the forward a yellow card and awarding the Pride a penalty. Replays showed that Hamilton’s arm was initially at her side, but she stuck her elbow out to block the attempt. After a review by the video assistant referee, the penalty was confirmed.
Marta stepped up to take the penalty. Miller dove to her right, but Marta used a panenka, softly chipping the ball down the middle to cut the Pride’s deficit in half at 2-1.
Hines made his third change of the game in the 65th minute, as Celia came on for Cluff. The Spanish defender took over at right back and McCutcheon moved up into the defensive midfield alongside Villacorta.
The Current had a chance for a third in the 68th minute when a poor pass attempt by Montefusco allowed Debinha to take over. She played it to the top of the box for Kizer, whose pass attempt for Hamilton on the far side was blocked. It went right to DiBernardo just outside of the box and the midfielder attempted a shot from distance, but it was wide of the goal.
With 11 minutes left and still trailing by a goal, Hines made his fourth substitution an attacking one. Forward Ally Watt came on for defensive midfielder Villacorta.
“Once we got that goal back from Marta, we changed it again. Had more attacking threats,” Hines said about the substitution. “But like I said earlier, it was too little, too late.”
The Pride had a great opportunity in the 80th minute when Miller played the ball short to Robinson. The center back attempted to play it back, but it was a weak pass and Watt took over. About a minute after coming on, Watt attempted a first-touch shot, but Miller did very well to come off her line and block it. Watt had Bright breaking in with her wide open but either didn’t see the rookie or simply opted to try it herself.
A minute later, Strom found Adriana at the top of the Kansas City box with enough room for a shot on goal. The Brazilian’s attempt was headed just inside the near post, but Miller dove to knock it wide. The save required some medical attention for Miller, but she was able to continue and caught the ensuing corner kick.
The fourth official showed 11 additional minutes, giving the Pride plenty of time to find an equalizer. However, as the rain came down, the Pride’s chances became fewer. In the eighth minute of stoppage time, Del Fava tripped Doyle, giving the Pride a free kick to the left of goal. The set piece by Marta was headed out, but the Pride claimed it was handled. The VAR took a moment to review the play, but decided there wasn’t enough evidence for a penalty.
In the 10th minute of injury time, Madril sent a cross to the back post where Celia was charging in. The right back out jumped the defender and got her head to the ball, but sent it right into the arms of Miller.
The final chance of the game came in the 11th minute of second-half injury time. A Pride corner kick ended up with McCutcheon in the box, but she mishit the ball and attempted to dribble around the defenders to create a shot. Before she could get a cross off, it was blocked and went out of play. Tattersall determined it was off McCutcheon, giving Kansas City a goal kick and ending the game with a 2-1 Pride loss.
At full time, the Pride had more possession (54.4%-45.6%), shots (14-9), corners (7-3), and crosses (27-9), and better passing accuracy (81.7%-79.9%). Both teams put six shots on target, but the Current converted one more than the Pride.
“Game of two halves,” Hines said about the game. “I think the first half wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t ourselves. And then second half was better, more intent, more commitment, both in the attack and defending, but it was too little too late. You know, Kansas were already 2-0 up at the half and we tried to get back into the game. But it was too late.”
“I think we’re all pretty disappointed,” Madril added. “I think if we would have come out in the first half like we did in the second half, I think it would have been a little different game. I don’t think we would have given up those two goals. I think it’s unfortunate that we have to get scored on to kind of wake ourselves up and take it up to that next level. But yeah, I think if we can just come out like we did in the second half, I think it’s a completely different game.”
The loss ends a three-game home winning streak that dated back to May 6 against Racing Louisville. The winning streak included wins over two of the best teams in league in the Washington Spirit and Portland Thorns, but the Pride fall again to one of the league’s worst teams.
”Mentality. Period,” Doyle said about losing again to a team near the bottom of the table. “We just got to come out and show up every single game no matter who our opponent is. I don’t know what that is. I think just individually we have to be better.”
The Pride will now turn their attention to Wednesday night when they welcome NJ/NY Gotham FC to Exploria Stadium in the NWSL Challenge Cup.
Orlando Pride
Pride Opponents Reducing Barbra Banda’s Available Space in 2025
How changes in the opposition’s defensive strategies have led to a decline in Barbra Banda’s statistics.

A few years ago, I heard a basketball analyst talking on a podcast about Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors and how his shooting prowess completely changed the geometry of how his opponents were trying to defend him. Geometry, as you all remember from high school, is the area of mathematics that is focused on understanding space and the positions of items in space.
As a mathematician, my ears perked up, since geometry is rarely referred to on NBA podcasts, and I immediately understood his point was that because Curry was such an offensive shooting threat, the opposition had to think differently about their positioning than they would with just about any other player, and they could not afford to give Curry any space on the court or else he would punish them with his proficiency at shooting the basketball.
Basketball is a much different game than soccer, in particular because hoops shots from behind the arc are worth three points while shots from inside the arc are worth two. Defenses have to consider the talents of their opponents at shooting three-pointers and adjust accordingly. Curry is the only player in NBA history with more than 4,000 made three-pointers made during the regular season (4,058), and is nearly 1,000 ahead of the next player on that list, James Harden, who has made 3,175. It can be argued that the only person to make better use of an arc than Curry was Noah, but that is for another article.
What does any of this have to do with Barbra Banda? Well, nothing and everything. I have no idea what kind of basketball player Banda is, but I know that just as defenses in basketball have had to dramatically change their normal styles to defend Curry, so too have they changed in how they defend Banda. If we take a look at some of Banda’s style-of-play statistics from the 2024 regular season and compare them to 2025, we can see the evidence of how defenses are clearly making changes to their positioning and to the space they are allowing Banda to operate in on the field (all data is from fbref.com, all metrics are on a per-90-minute basis except shot distance and expected goals, which are per shot taken):
Metric | 2024 | 2025 | Difference |
---|---|---|---|
Passes Received | 22.7 | 15.7 | -31% |
Progressive Passes Received | 7.41 | 6.57 | -11% |
Shots | 5.23 | 4.14 | -21% |
Shot Distance in Yards | 14.6 | 15.6 | +7% |
Expected Goals | 0.14 | 0.12 | -14% |
Progressive Carries | 5.80 | 3.71 | -36% |
Attempted Take-Ons | 5.23 | 3.14 | -40% |
Touches in the Attacking Third | 21.9 | 18.0 | -18% |
Touches in 18 | 10.6 | 8.0 | -25% |
Shot-Creating Actions | 4.60 | 3.58 | -22% |
I called these her style-of-play statistics because I think these describe what she is doing on the field and where she is doing it, or in this case, not doing it as much as she was doing it in 2024.
Let’s start with the top two: passes received and progressive passes received per 90 minutes. The Pride are completing nearly the same number of passes per 90 minutes in 2025 (357.3) as they did in 2024 (364.4), but Banda is receiving 31% fewer passes this season than she did last season. She is also receiving 11% fewer progressive passes, which are passes of 10 yards or more that move the ball closer to the goal in the attacking area of the field. Banda is healthy and still in her athletic prime, so it is not that she has lost a step and is unable to run as she did in 2024, but it is clear that opponents are making concerted efforts to track her more closely and deny her the ball all over the field.
Receiving the ball less often certainly contributes to taking fewer shots, and, unsurprisingly, Banda is taking approximately 1.1 fewer shots per 90 minutes thus far this season. In addition, she is, on average, taking her shots from 7% farther (not further, thank you, Finding Forrester) away from the goal and from areas of the field which historically have produced fewer goals, as evidenced by the decrease in expected goals per shot. I did not include her conversion rates on her shots in this table, because that is not about style of play and rather about her proficiency. It is interesting, however, to note that her proficiency is nearly exactly the same: shots on target percentage of 44.6% in 2024 and 44.8% in 2025 and a slight increase in goals per shot from 13% in 2024 to 14% in 2025. It is not that Banda’s skill has diminished, it is how her opponents are changing the geometry of their defense.
The biggest drops from year to year tie right into this, which are Banda’s 36% decrease in progressive carries per 90 minutes (progressive carries are the dribbling equivalent of progressive passes received, when a player dribbles the ball for 10 or more yards towards the goal in the attacking area of the field) and 40% decrease in attempted take-ons. Teams are simply not allowing her to get a head of steam and get into space like they did last season, to the tune of two fewer progressive carries per 90 minutes and two fewer attempted take-ons PER MATCH. Banda has actually been slightly more successful in her take-ons in 2025 (50% success vs 47.5% success in 2024), but as teams are working to have her receive the ball in less dangerous places she is choosing not to try to take on a defender as often and is less often able to receive the ball and turn on the burners towards the goal.
With fewer passes received and fewer progressive carries she is also not touching the ball as often in the opponents’ attacking third and 18-yard box, which ties back to the reduction in shots taken, and also the final metric, shot-creating actions. Banda was fourth in the NWSL last season with nearly five shot-creating actions per game, and she has dropped to 16th this season with only 3.58 thus far. Being in the top 20 is still excellent, but goals generally come from shots, and Banda’s shot creation is down through seven games. The eye test does not reveal a player who is tentative or shying away from trying to create. I think she is just being defended differently, and as yet she has not unlocked a good counter.
Even with all of this said, it is not like Banda is having a bad year or is in any danger of losing her starting role. She has dropped in shot-creating actions, but she is making use of the ones she does create, ranking fourth in goal-creating actions by averaging 0.72 per 90 minutes. She is also fifth in goals scored per 90 minutes and third in goals scored. Her goal output is also lower in 2025 than it was in 2024, but as I noted, it is still better than most of the league’s offensive players.
Increasing her output is partly on her and partly on her teammates, as they need to work together to counteract how Banda is being defended by making some changes of their own. The losses of Adriana to a new team and Julie Doyle and Summer Yates to injury have hurt the offense, as the attack cannot build on all the cohesion that those players built with Banda last season, and Ally Watt and Angelina have not contributed as much as was expected, at least not yet. As The Mane Land’s Dave Rohe said on this week’s SkoPurp Soccer podcast though, all of this is true and the team is still tied for first place and tied for the league lead in goals scored.
The Pride have two tough games coming up — on the road at North Carolina, always a tough opponent, and then at home against Kansas City, the team currently tied with Orlando at the top of the table. Winning both games will be an acute challenge, but if the Pride can do that they will create a degree of space at the top of the table, though it would be more of an algebraic than a geometric sequence, since they would be adding three points and then another three points.
Whether algebraic or geometric, the Pride will continue to work to calculus, sorry…calculate, how best to sequence their offense to unlock Banda and improve an offense that, excluding own goals, has scored only six times in their last six games. They will surely be considering all the angles in practice this week, but let’s hope that in the end the angle they choose to go with for their offensive strategy is right.
Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride Depth Tested Early This Season
The Pride are being forced to test their newly acquired depth early in the 2025 NWSL season.

The Orlando Pride started a full rebuild in 2022, which culminated in the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship in 2024. With the core of the team well set, Haley Carter and Seb Hines began work on building depth in the squad. Early this season, that work is being put to the test.
Just seven games into the 2025 NWSL season, the Pride have already suffered several key injuries. The first occurred in the NWSL regular season opener when midfielder Julie Doyle suffered a knee injury 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute. The following week, Rafaelle was replaced at halftime. Hines insisted it was precautionary, but the center back has yet to return.
Summer Yates, expected by many to replace Marta when the club captain retires, was injured on April 12 while assisting Barbara Banda’s game-winning goal in Seattle. The most recent injury occurred Saturday night when starting goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse was kicked in the head by Mimi Alidou in the 47th minute, forcing her departure from the game.
The Pride did suffer a key injury last season when Rafaelle was injured during the Summer Olympics while representing Brazil. However, the solution was rather simple as Emily Sams moved to center back and Cori Dyke took over at right back. Despite being a rookie, Dyke was exceptional the remainder of the season, securing the starting right back spot through the NWSL Championship.
Neither Doyle nor Yates were starters at the beginning of the season. While Doyle has started many games for the Pride in her career, Hines has gone to Ally Watt and Angelina as the outside attacking midfielders. But with Angelina playing regularly for Brazil, Doyle and Yates were expected to play significant roles during the season.
Fortunately, the Pride were well prepared for this situation. They signed Zambian internationals Prisca Chilufya and Grace Chanda, who have filled those roles so far this season. Both are more than capable of starting for the Pride and filling the gaps left by Angelina and Watt when necessary.
Rafaelle is a more significant injury for the Pride. Her replacement in the lineup was a simple decision. Sams is a natural center back and started most of the 2024 games alongside Kylie Nadaner. The duo was arguably the best center back pairing in the league last season, resulting in Sams being awarded NWSL Defender of the Year. The bigger issue was who would be behind the starters.
Dyke and starting left back Kerry Abello both played games at center back last season. It wasn’t a completely foreign position for them as they’d spent time there in college. However, moving your starting right back or left back to the central defender position is less than ideal. Preferably, you would have a player able to come off the bench and replace Sams and Nadaner when needed.
Hines showed his preference Saturday night when Nadaner was given the night off. Rookie Zara Chavoshi had played minimal minutes this season, taking part in only two games. However, the Pride boss decided to throw the 22-year-old into the fire, giving her the first start of her professional career. Making the decision more questionable was sending her into arguably the league’s most hostile atmosphere at a venue where the Pride have only claimed points once.
Despite the tough circumstances, the rookie defender did very well, holding her own. It was a valuable experience for the young center back, who will likely be called upon again as the season continues.
“Giving Zara the first opportunity to start the game in a hostile environment and get tested in certain situations, I thought she did very well for her first NWSL start,” Hines said of his rookie center back after the game.
The final injury occurred during the game Saturday night when Moorhouse suffered an injury. The shot stopper has been the Pride’s number one since Erin McLeod left the club following the 2022 NWSL season. There was only one choice as her replacement, the team’s backup goalkeeper the past two seasons. While it was McKinley Crone’s first appearance in an NWSL game, it wasn’t her first appearance for the team.
The Maitland, FL native originally joined the club in 2023 as a preseason non-roster invitee. She was signed as a National Team Replacement Player later that season, but didn’t make any appearances. The club signed Finnish goalkeeper Sofia Manner prior to the 2024 campaign, putting Crone’s future with the club into question. But Crone beat out her Finnish teammate to earn the backup spot behind Moorhouse.
Crone made her professional debut last season during the NWSL X Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup against the North Carolina Courage. The game ended 1-1, with the Pride losing 5-4 on penalties. It was the last appearance by Crone, as Manner and Moorhouse started the other two Summer Cup games. Saturday night may not have been her first professional appearance, but it was unquestionably her most significant.
The 26-year-old goalkeeper wasn’t forced to do much, saving the only shot she faced. Despite the lack of action, it was good for the Pride to get their backup some meaningful minutes in case Moorhouse is called into international duty or is unable to return next week.
“Mac’s been waiting a long time for that opportunity,” Hines said. “It’s in a way that we didn’t want it to happen. Obviously, you never want to see a player get injured. But Mac’s been patient waiting for this opportunity and I thought she did well when she came on.”
So far, the Pride have passed the test. While they’re not on a record-breaking unbeaten run like last year, they sit tied with the Kansas City Current atop the NWSL standings. The two teams are tied in every way, with the same record, the same number of goals scored, and the same number of goals conceded.
The recent experiences of the Pride reserves should only help the team moving forward. Whether Hines wants to provide more rest for his starters before the playoffs, someone gets injured, or international callups result in missing players, the Pride coach must have more confidence now that he can plug in less experienced players and trust them to do the job. That will only benefit the Pride as they look to defend their crown as NWSL champions.
Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride vs. Portland Thorns: Final Score 1-0 as Pride Fail to Score at Providence Park
The Pride’s Portland problems popped up to punish the team once again.

The Orlando Pride (5-2-0, 15 points) continued to have difficulty when visiting Providence Park, losing 1-0 tonight to the Portland Thorns in Oregon. The home team took the early lead on Reyna Reyes’ 16th minute goal. The Pride were unable to generate any good chances on goal no matter who Pride Head Coach Seb Hines put on in the second half.
Hines made five changes to the team that won against Angel City. Oihane once again replaced Cori Dyke at right back, Zara Chavoshi got the start next to Emily Sams in place of Kylie Nadaner. Carson Pickett took over at left back, with Kerry Abello moving into the midfield. Ally Watt also returned to the starting lineup in place of Prisca Chilufya. The back line in front of goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse was made up of Pickett, Chavoshi, Sams, and Oihane. Haley McCutcheon and Abello were the defensive midfielders behind Watt, Marta, and Ally Lemos with Banda up top.
Early in the match, the Pride tried the route one approach, sending long balls up to Banda. The first two times it worked well enough for Banda to get the ball cleanly, but she was unable to make anything from it. After that, the Pride continued to try this approach, but it was less successful.
Portland made things difficult for the Pride, pressing early and often. In the 16th minute it paid off for the home team. Pickett played a defensive ball out for a Thorns throw-in. Portland worked the ball across to Reyes. She moved the ball onto her left foot and put a very good shot inside the left post for what ended up being the game-winning goal.
The Pride did have some chances but nothing with any type of power behind it to beat McKenzie Arnold. The Pride looked flat through most of the first half, and the Thorns brought more energy. Orlando looked disjointed and disinterested.
In the 37th minute, Pride supporters got a big scare. Banda took the ball into the box, but then pulled up as if she had a noncontact injury. Play was eventually stopped for the trainers to check on her. Mercifully, Banda was not injured and was able to continue.
Things almost got much worse for the Pride in the 39th minute. Reilyn Turner took a through ball into the box, rounded Moorhouse and put the ball on frame. Fortunately, Chavoshi recovered and made a clutch goal-line save to keep the score at 1-0.
After 45 minutes of play, the Thorns had the advantage in shots (7-5) and shots on target (4-1). The Pride had the advantage in possession (53%-47%) and corners (3-0), but were not able to generate much of a threat.
Hines did not make any changes to start the second half despite the lack of scoring. The Thorns started quickly as Deyna Castellanos got on a long ball in the box. Luckily, her shot went wide. One minute later, Moorhouse was fouled. She took a shin to the head, and boot to her right hand. After several minutes she was subbed off for McKinley Crone.
The second half was much like the first. The Pride had difficulty breaking Portland’s lines. When they did, the chances did not threaten Arnold. A perfect example of this came in the 64th minute. Watt stripped the ball from a Portland player and fed it to Banda, who gave it back to Watt for the chance, but there was nothing on it.
In the 68th minute, Hines brought on Dyke, Angelina, and Viviana Villacorta for Oihane, Lemos, and Pickett. One minute later, Banda had a chance, but her near-post shot was saved by Arnold. On the other end, Crone saved a shot by Payton Linnehan in the 74th minute. In the 75th minute, Chilufya came on for Marta.
Hines made his final substitution in the 83rd minute, bringing on Grace Chanda for Watt. Between Moorhouse’s injury and various other fouls, there were 11 minutes of second-half stoppage time. Being up a goal against the defending champs, Portland players immediately headed for the corner whenever they got the ball.
Despite double digits to work with in stoppage time, the Pride failed to equalize and suffered their second loss of the season. At full time, the Pride had the advantage in possession (58%-42%), corner kicks (7-2), and passing accuracy (80%-75%). Portland had the advantage on shots (15-11), shots on target (7-4), and, most importantly, on the scoreboard.
“You have got to try and create the space. You have got to move, make unselfish runs and you have got to be proactive rather than reactive,” Hines said about the team’s lack of offense. “I felt today that Portland were one step ahead of us in their defensive structure. We didn’t create too many opportunities. They were well organized. You have got to find different ways, and we had different solutions during the run of game and changed different buildup shapes, but it wasn’t enough to get that equalizer.”
Hines praise the play of Chavoshi and Crone in the match, with both players short on experience.
“I think they are the main positives out of the game,” Hines said. “Giving Zara [Chavoshi] the first opportunity to start the game in a hostile environment and get tested in certain situations, I thought she did very well for her first NWSL start. [McKinley Crone] has been waiting a long time for that opportunity. It is in a way that we didn’t want it to happen, obviously, you never want to see a player get injured. Mac has been patient waiting for this opportunity and I thought she did well when she came on.”
Fortunately for the Pride, the Kansas City Current and the Washington Spirit also lost their matches, meaning the Pride remain tied for first with the Current. Sadly, this was a missed opportunity to put some daylight between those other top teams.
“My head is all over the place at the moment, honestly,” Crone said about getting on the pitch. “I don’t really (know) if I can pinpoint a singular emotion. I am really honored, especially being from Orlando, just to be able to represent the city. This is such a tough place to come in and play. I thought the team fought hard. Now at this point, it is about turning our focus to the next game. It is such a long season, and we have so many more games ahead of us, it is now about how can we respond to this result today.”
The Pride remain on the road next weekend for an away match against the North Carolina Courage at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC.
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