Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride vs. Chicago Red Stars: Final Score 5-0 as Pride Dominate Chicago in Regular-Season Return
The Pride equaled the biggest win in team history with a 5-0 thumping of the Chicago Red Stars.
The Orlando Pride (7-8-1, 22 points) had their best performance of the year in their first game after the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup break, crushing the Chicago Red Stars (5-10-1, 16 points) 5-0. Rafaelle and Mariana Larroquette both scored on their debuts for the team and Messiah Bright scored the first brace of her young career. The fifth goal was by midfielder Mikayla Cluff.
The return of the World Cup participants meant that Marta and Adriana rejoined the lineup. Rafaelle also entered the lineup at center back, replacing Megan Montefusco and making her Pride debut. The back line in front of goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse was Kylie Strom, Emily Madril, Rafaelle, and Haley McCutcheon. Viviana Villacorta and Kerry Abello were in the defensive midfield behind Julie Doyle, Marta, and Adriana, with Bright up top.
Similar to their first meeting in Illinois on May 27, the Pride dominated this game from start to finish. Other than a brief flurry of blocked shots in the first half, Chicago couldn’t get anything going offensively. However, while the Pride were unable to hit the target in their first meeting, they put five behind Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher in this one.
The Pride dominated possession in the opening minutes, creating all of the opportunities in the opposing end. In the 11th minute, Marta attempted to play Bright behind the Chicago defense, but the rookie striker wasn’t expecting it. Two minutes later, Rafaelle sent a terrific ball behind the back line for Bright. Unfortunately, her first touch was too heavy, allowing Naeher to collect it.
The first shot of the game came in the 13th minute, when Doyle, who the Pride were constantly playing to outside early, sent a low cross into the box. It looked like the defense would easily clear, but there was some miscommunication. Marta took advantage, reaching in to put the ball on goal. However, the close-range shot was right to Naeher.
The Pride finally took the lead in the 14th minute from a corner kick. Adriana and Marta stood over the ball, with Adriana stepping over it. Marta’s cross was outside of the six-yard box and beyond the back post, where Rafaelle got her head to it. The newly-signed Brazilian sent the ball towards the opposite post where it beat Naeher for the opening goal.
“Obviously, Rafa is a world class center half,” Pride Head Coach Seb Hines said about the opening goal. “And you know, she’s been threatening in her career off set pieces, and it’s nice to get that early goal. Nice for her to get that goal early on as well.”
Less than a minute later, McCutcheon nearly doubled the Pride’s lead. She attempted to play the ball across for Bright, but it was blocked right back to her. The right back’s second ball was a shot towards the far post that sent Naeher diving, but it went just wide of the post.
Marta came close to scoring in her first game back with the team in the 19th minute, when Doyle’s low cross was cleared out by Kayla Sharples. The clearance went to Marta outside of the box and the Pride captain took an ambitious shot on goal. It was a good strike, but went just over the crossbar.
The Pride doubled their lead in the 24th minute when McCutcheon blocked a long-distance attempt by Penelope Hocking — Chicago’s first shot of the game. She played the ball forward for Doyle, who immediately sent Bright into the Red Stars half. Hocking slid in with a very late challenge on Doyle, but referee Anya Voigt waved play on. Taylor Malham was on the striker, but left her too much space. Bright took advantage of the room, sending the ball inside the far post to give the Pride a 2-0 lead.
“I think when you just think about it in the moment and think it’s just picking your moments, I’m usually more of an attacking player that looks to go in the box,” Bright said about her first goal of the night. “So I think just trusting myself with my shot and knowing that I do have the range to kick it outside of the 18 as well. So I just took a chance and just really just had a good technique on it.”
“I think we’ve had games before where we’ve had those chances in the first 15, 20 minutes and we haven’t put them away,” Madril said about scoring two goals early. “And then it just puts more pressure on us to try to get that goal and then we have to work harder to just get those goals. So I think it’s great to get those two goals early and kind of let things calm down and kind of play or composed soccer and keep the ball and have Chicago chase the whole time.”
Before the Red Stars could restart, Voigt went back to the challenge on Doyle, issuing Hocking a yellow card for the late challenge.
Bright had a chance for a first-half brace in the 29th minute when a quick give-and-go between the rookie and Marta sent Bright behind the Red Stars defense. She got herself in position to shoot as she entered the box with Malham closing in, but the attempt was right to Naeher.
After only taking one shot in the first 34 minutes, the Red Stars had two good chances in the 35th minute. Strom attempted to shield St-Georges from the ball near her own end line, but St-Georges was able to play it back for Ava Cook. The forward took a touch to create space from Rafaelle and shot. Fortunately, Madril was backing her fellow center back up and blocked it. The rebound went right back to Cook, who laid it off for Yuki Nagasato behind her. Nagasato’s shot beat Rafaelle, but was blocked by Strom.
A minute later, the Red Stars forced Moorhouse into her first stop of the game when Casey Krueger found Hocking to her left. Hocking had some space for a shot and tried to beat Moorhouse to her near post, but the Pride goalkeeper got down to block it out of play.
The Red Stars had one more first-half opportunity in the 36th minute, when Nagasato found Julia Bianchi outside of the Pride box. The midfielder took a shot from distance, but Madril stepped in front of it for the block. The small flurry of chances was the only Chicago threat in the first half and the Pride were able to take a 2-0 lead into the break.
After 45 minutes, the Red Stars had more possession (51.7%-48.3%), but the Pride had more shots (9-5), shots on target (4-1), and crosses (11-7), and better passing accuracy (85.5%-81.2%). Both teams had two corners in the first half.
It looked like the Red Stars might get back into the game in the 49th minute when Krueger sent a long ball for Jenna Bike, who came on at halftime for St-Georges. Bike got behind the Pride defense, but Strom slid in to take the ball away. Hocking and Bike, who went down on the play, threw their arms in the air, claiming it should’ve been a penalty. But Voigt decided it was a clean challenge.
The Pride quickly went the other way with Adriana playing it forward for Marta. The Brazilian used the outside of her left foot to send Bright behind the Red Stars defense. Naeher came out of the box to challenge the striker, but Bright remained calm, dribbling around her and putting it in for her second goal of the night.
“The main thing that was going through my mind was just making sure I stayed even with the back line so I wouldn’t be caught offside,” Bright said about the goal. “But also just having that separation as well to break off once she passed. It is quite amazing how she got the ball through there. It’s Marta, so I mean, couldn’t expect nothing less. But my main thing was once she played it, I saw Naeher coming out, so I just went around her and the goal was wide open. I was kind of getting off balance a little bit so my main thing was just placing it, putting a little heat on it, and just redirecting it in the goal.”
It was Bright’s sixth goal of the season, tying her for fifth in the league. It’s also her first career brace, something the rookie says she’s been aiming for.
“I’ve been searching for that career brace for a minute now,” Bright said. “So it was pretty, you know, good to just get that. And I was actually aiming for a hat trick but, you know, take it a game at a time.”
Chicago had a chance to get one back in the 59th minute when Bianchi’s long-distance shot was blocked out of play by Rafaelle. The ensuing corner kick got under the arm and Moorhouse, but, fortunately, the Pride were able to clear.
Hines made his first changes of the game in the 60th minute. Cluff, Larroquette, and Jordyn Listro entered the game for Doyle, Bright, and Villacorta.
It didn’t take long for Larroquette to make an impact as she scored 3:46 into her Pride debut. The new forward received the ball on the left side of the box from Cluff and cut inside to beat her defender. The Argentine placed her shot with her right foot past Naeher and into the top corner to give the Pride a 4-0 lead.
“For Larroquette, you know, coming in and, you know, you can see the hunger that she brings to try and score.”Hines said about the new striker. “Every moment she wants to score.”
Four minutes later, the Pride scored a fifth and it was another substitute. Cluff played Adriana down the right and the Brazilian used some good footwork to beat Amanda Kowalski. Cluff continued her run into the box and Adriana found her. Cluff’s first touch was a soft shot inside the far post to give the Pride a 5-0 lead.
With the game well under control, the Pride made two final changes. Megan Montefusco came on for Rafaelle in the 70th minute and Summer Yates replaced Adriana in the 73rd minute.
The Pride nearly had a sixth in the 82nd minute when Abello beat her defender and sent a cross towards the top of the six-yard box. Naeher tried to knock the ball away, but only put it in front for Larroquette. Unfortunately, the Argentinian couldn’t get her foot on the ball and the Red Stars cleared.
Chicago had a chance to get on the scoresheet in the 85th minute when Ella Stevens sent fellow substitute Ally Schlegel behind the Pride defense. Schlegel’s first touch should’ve been a shot on goal, but it was a heavy one instead. Moorhouse came out to challenge and the two collided, resulting in the ball rolling out of play. Moorhouse was down briefly and required medical attention, but was able to continue.
The fourth official put up six minutes of second-half stoppage time, but the Pride were content with their five-goal lead. The only chance in the dying minutes came in the first minute of added time when Krueger did well to keep possession in the Pride box and send the ball towards the penalty spot. Cari Roccaro met the ball and took a shot, but Madril got in front of the attempt, blocking it wide.
The Red Stars finished the game with more possession (51.1%-48.9%) and corner kicks (6-4), but weren’t able to create much from them. The Pride had more shots (13-9), shots on target (7-1), and crosses (17-15), and better passing accuracy (85.6%-82.8%).
“The players were brilliant today,” Hines said about the performance. “From start to finish, the intensity of how they did everything, from attacking to defending. We talked heavily about taking our opportunities, end product in the final third. And, you know, they were brilliant. I can’t speak highly (enough) of them. You know, we’ve felt like that performance has been coming. But it’s nice to finally get a good score line at the end of it.”
The five goals are the most the Pride have scored in a game since May 26, 2018 when they beat the Red Stars in Illinois, 5-2. It’s their largest win since Aug. 12, 2017 when they won 5-0 over Sky Blue FC at Exploria Stadium. It’s also the first time that the Pride have beaten the Red Stars in Orlando, now with a record of 1-7-1 at home against tonight’s opposition.
In addition to team history, the Pride also set some league history tonight. They did that earlier this year by conceding the latest goals in league history, but this time it was positive. Brazilians Marta, Adriana, and Rafaelle all had a part in goals, the first time in NWSL history that three players from the same country other than the United States had goal contributions in the same game.
It was a clutch performance for the Pride as they attempt to qualify for the NWSL playoffs for the first time since 2017. Racing Louisville lost last night, so the Pride move in front of them into seventh place. The final playoff spot is currently held by San Diego Wave FC, which is three points ahead of the Pride after this weekend’s games.
The win makes the Pride’s next match even more essential as they welcome the Wave to Exploria Stadium Friday night with a chance to climb even on points for the sixth and final playoff spot.
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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