Orlando Pride vs. OL Reign: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Welcome to your match thread as the Orlando Pride (5-8-1, 16 points) return home to face OL Reign (7-4-3, 24 points). This is the first of two meetings between the two teams. They’ll face off a second time on Sept. 3 in Seattle, WA.

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

History

The Pride and Reign have met 14 times since the Pride joined the league in 2016. The Pride hold a 1-6-7 record in those meetings. The Pride have only beaten tonight’s opponent once in Orlando, but only lost twice, holding a record of 1-2-4.

The most recent game between the two teams came on Oct. 1, 2022 at Lumen Field in Seattle. The Pride had already been eliminated from playoff contention and it looked like it as OL Reign dominated the game. Megan Rapinoe opened the scoring just eight minutes in, Jordyn Huitema doubled the hosts’ lead soon after, and Bethany Balcer made it 3-0 after 31 minutes. The Pride held the Reign scoreless in the second half, but fell 3-0.

The teams played for the first time last season on Aug. 26 in Orlando. Meggie Dougherty Howard gave the hosts the lead, and the Pride tried to hold onto that one-goal advantage, but Megan Rapinoe found Bethany Balcer for an equalizing header. The visitors pushed for a win and Rapinoe got a goal for herself two minutes into second half injury time, lifting the Reign to a 2-1 win, snapping Orlando’s seven-match unbeaten run.

The teams played twice during the 2021 season and the first game was on July 24 in Orlando. The Reign scored a goal in each half with Jess Fishlock scoring early and Tziarra King doubling the lead just after the break on the way to a 2-0 win. On Sept. 26 in Tacoma, WA, Balcer opened the scoring in the third minute and Eugenie Le Sommer scored a brace, giving the Reign a 3-0 lead at halftime, ultimately beating the Pride by that score.

COVID canceled the teams’ meetings in 2020 but they played three times in 2019. On April 21 in Tacoma, Alanna Kennedy gave the Pride an early lead. But Balcer equalized and the teams drew 1-1. They met again on Sept. 7 in the same location. This time the Reign took the early lead as Darian Jenkins — then with the Reign but now with the Pride — scored twice inside the first 12 minutes. Beverly Yanez made it 3-0 soon after, effectively putting the game away early. Camila converted a late penalty but the Reign won 3-1. The final meeting that year came on Oct. 12 in Orlando. The Pride scored first through Rachel Hill, but Jenkins and Jodie Taylor gave the visitors a 2-1 lead going into halftime. Marta equalized late and the teams drew 2-2.

The first meeting in 2018 came on April 28 in Orlando. Allie Long gave the Reign a first-half lead, but Marta equalized, resulting in a 1-1 draw. On June 3, the teams met in Seattle but neither team could find the back of the net as they ended in a scoreless draw. The final meeting that year was on July 21 in Orlando. Toni Pressley gave the Pride a first-half lead but Taylor equalized with 20 minutes remaining and the teams drew for the third time that year.

The 2017 season saw the Pride and Reign play twice, first meeting on May 21 in Seattle. Yanez gave the hosts the lead just before halftime but Marta scored just after the break and the teams drew 1-1. They met again on Sept. 7 in Orlando in a game that looked to be ending scoreless but took a surprising turn. Alex Morgan gave the Pride the late lead in second-half injury time, but Fishlock equalized two minutes later and they drew 1-1.

The first-ever meeting between the two teams occurred on May 8, 2016 in Orlando. Sarah Hagen gave the Pride an early lead and Lianne Sanderson made it 2-0 late, which would be the final. The return game in Seattle was on July 23 and was the highest-scoring game between the two teams. Kim Little and Fishlock made it 2-0 Reign at halftime. Manon Melis scored a third for the hosts, appearing to put the game out of reach. Jasmyne Spencer scored, but Kendall Fletcher made it 4-1 four minutes later. A Pressley own goal and late strike by Kristen Edmonds added one more goal to each team’s tally in a 5-2 Reign win.

Overview

The Pride bounced back from a pair of tough losses with a 3-0 thumping of the Washington Spirit last weekend. It was the second time the Pride had beaten the Spirit in regular-season play, sweeping the season series against one of the top teams in the league. While beating a top team wasn’t new, ending up on top away from Exploria Stadium has been a rarity in 2023.

The breakout performer last weekend was Julie Doyle, who scored a brace in the first 16 minutes. It was Doyle’s first goals of the season and a welcome sight since the team was missing Marta and Adriana, who are away on international duty. They’ll be looking to start a string of good performances when they return home tonight to face the Reign.

This is a stretch of games where the Pride can take advantage of their youth. While the Pride have lost two starters to the World Cup, several teams have lost even more. As a result, they’ll be playing teams piecing together lineups without several key components. The Reign are one of the teams, who are missing eight players to international duty.

The Reign have put themselves in a good position to handle the next few weeks, sitting in third in the NWSL standings. Last weekend was their first game without their international stars and they came away with a 2-2 draw at home against Racing Louisville. However, now they’ll have to fly across the country to face a Pride team that’s been playing well against the league’s best teams.

The Reign have also put themselves in a good position with their depth. Despite missing a large portion of their roster, they still have multiple starters, who should be able to keep the team high up in the standings through the World Cup. However, this team isn’t as strong as they were two games ago and the Pride need to take advantage.

They have four of their top five scorers in Balcer (five goals), Veronica Latsko (four goals), Fishlock (three goals), and Elyse Bennett (two goals). But they’ll miss their primary playmaker Rapinoe, who leads the team with four assists.

Defensively, the Reign still have their starting goalkeeper, Phallon Tullis-Joyce, and the left side of their defense — Lauren Barnes and Sam Hiatt — but are missing right side starting defenders Alana Cook and Sofia Huerta.

“We’re starting to run out of games and every game matters. Every game’s a final right now,” Hines said about facing OL Reign tonight. “So it’s important that we create that momentum that we showed previous, where we went on a good run. We need to go on a good run again.

“(OL Reign) have a lot of depth in positions. They are missing their internationals, but they also have some really good players that can fill those spots up, so we have to be mindful of that. We can’t take them for granted, but also it’s an opportunity to focus on ourselves and again, build up momentum, make it a difficult environment to play in. We’ll have our fans behind us as well, and if we do all of that, we’ll set ourselves up for success.”

Tonight, the Pride will only be missing defender Carrie Lawrence (knee) due to injury. They’ll also be without forwards Marta (Brazil) and Adriana (Brazil), as well as new signings Rafaelle (Brazil) and Mariana Larroquette (Argentina), who are all on international duty.

Tziarra King (leg) is the only OL Reign player out injured. However, as previously mentioned, they have eight players on international duty, including Angelina (Brazil), Cook (USA), Huerta (USA), Huitema (Canada), Rose Lavelle (USA), Quinn (Canada), Emily Sonnett (USA), and Rapinoe (USA).

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Official Lineups

Orlando Pride (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Anna Moorhouse.

Defenders: Kylie Strom, Emily Madril, Megan Montefusco, Haley McCutcheon.

Defensive Midfielders: Mikayla Cluff, Viviana Villacorta.

Midfielders: Julie Doyle, Erika Tymrak, Kerry Abello.

Forward: Messiah Bright.

Bench: Carly Nelson, Caitlin Cosme, Amanda Allen, Jordyn Listro, Thais Reiss, Brianna Martinez, Celia, Summer Yates, Ally Watt.

OL Reign (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

Defenders: Lauren Barnes, Phoebe McClernon, Sam Hiatt, Ryanne Brown.

Defensive Midfielders: Jess Fishlock, Olivia Van der Jagt.

Midfielders: Bethany Balcer, Veronica Latsko, Olivia Athens.

Forward: Elyse Bennett.

Bench: Laurel Ivory, Nikki Stanton, Marley Canales, Luany, Malonson, Shae Holmes, Natalie Viggiano, McKenzie Weinert, Jadyn Edwards.

Referees

REF: JC Griggs.
AR1: Art Arustamyan.
AR2: Katarzyna Wasiak.
4TH: Marie Durr.
VAR: Malik Badawi.
AVAR: Emma Richards.

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How to Watch

Match Time: 7 p.m.

Venue: Exploria Stadium — Orlando.

TV: None.

Streaming: Paramount+ (U.S.), NWSLsoccer.com (International).

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow @TheManeLand and the Orlando Pride’s official Twitter feed (@ORLPride).

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Enjoy the match. Go Pride!