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.
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.
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.
Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride Loan Forward Mariana Larroquette to Newell’s Old Boys Women
The Argentine forward is going home to get some minutes until July 1.
The Orlando Pride announced today that forward Mariana Larroquette is going on loan to Newell’s Old Boys Women in her native Argentina until July 1. The move will keep the seldom-used attacker out of the Pride lineup until midseason, but she’ll be able to get some playing time that could prove beneficial to Orlando in the season’s second half.
“We’re excited to find an opportunity for ‘Larro’ to gain meaningful minutes while also being an ambassador for the women’s game in her home country Argentina, as they get set to host the CONMEBOL Championships this summer,” Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director Haley Carter said in a club press release. “This will be a great move for her both professionally and personally, and we’re excited to see what she achieves while on loan.”
The Pride signed Larroquette on July 6, 2023 — just prior to her involvement in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup — on a contract through 2025. The former Club León, Sporting CP, and Kansas City forward and Argentine international was expected to bolster an Orlando attack that was in need of more goals. It hasn’t worked out that way, even though she scored her first Pride goal and added an assist in her first appearance with Orlando in a 5-0 destruction of the Chicago Red Stars at home on Aug. 20, 2023. That remains her only NWSL goal since joining Orlando.
The 32-year-old made just four appearances during the 2024 regular season — all off the bench — logging 48 total minutes. She did not contribute a goal or an assist or even attempt a shot. Larroquette completed just 41.2% of her 17 passes. She started once in three appearances in the 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, playing 107 minutes without a goal contribution and attempting three shots. Larroquette did not appear in the Pride’s postseason run to the NWSL Championship.
In her Pride career so far, Larroquette has made just 12 appearances in all competitions, starting just one time, scoring one goal, and contributing one assist.
What It Means for Orlando
Ultimately, this is a chance for Larroquette to get some minutes and perhaps improve her form. Although she provided depth last season, she was rarely used. Playing for the Lepers (seriously, that’s the team’s nickname, which is even stranger than Newell’s Old Boys Women) will get Larroquette playing time in the Campeonato de Fútbol Femenino close to home. This could be the precursor to her departing Orlando for good if she isn’t a good fit for Seb Hines’ tactical approach. At 32, Larroquette is unlikely to bring a windfall to the Pride in a transfer, but she has shown she can be a useful player off the bench when needed in recent years, and has been able to contribute on the international level for Argentina.
This is a move that can help Larroquette re-establish her game and show whether she is still capable of providing offense to her club — whether that ends up being the Pride or another team. As she has not been seeing the field much, there shouldn’t be a big impact to Orlando while she’s away, and it is possible we’ve seen the last of her in a Pride uniform.
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