Orlando Pride Overcoming Early Adversity in 2024

The Orlando Pride have gotten off to a solid start to the 2024 NWSL season, drawing their first three games. It’s a much better opening to the season than last year, when it took five games before they claimed their first point. This year’s team has also had to deal with more adversity than previous seasons — some of it the Pride created for themselves — playing games without multiple key players.

Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Haley Carter and Head Coach Seb Hines have been building the team from the back forward. Last year, they determined the best back line would feature Kylie Strom, Emily Sams, Rafaelle, and Haley McCutcheon. However, Rafaelle fractured her left foot while representing Brazil at the inaugural 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup. Usually she would’ve been replaced by Megan Montefusco, but the veteran center back had surgery during the offseason, ending her 2024 campaign.

Things got worse for the defensive unit during the season opener when Strom was sent off for a second yellow card in the 62nd minute. Despite being down a player, the Pride came back from a 2-1 deficit, drawing 2-2 through a Summer Yates conversion in the 86th minute. But the sending off meant the Pride were without another defender against Angel City FC in the home opener.

“You have to be versatile,” Hines said about being without multiple defenders for the Angel City game. “You know, to play on this team you have to be versatile and so players is just football is right now. And it’s really important that we put a group of players together that can go out there and perform and play to our best and stick to who we are and our identity. And…we have to maybe shuffle a few things around, but we have our full trust and belief in the players and they can go out there and give absolutely everything, and hopefully we’ll get the reward and performance and the result that we all want.”

In addition to losing Strom and Rafaelle, center back Sams was out with an illness against Angel City. As a result, McCutcheon was the only regular starting defender against one of the most talented attacking units in the league. Bri Martinez, Kerry Abello (a midfielder who played center back in college), and Celia took the place of the three usual starters in a makeshift lineup.

The unit only gave up one goal in that game, a penalty conceded by Angelina that was converted by former Pride attacker Claire Emslie. The Pride out-shot their opposition 14-12 and had three more shots on target. In the 88th minute, Marta volleyed an Angelina corner kick inside the near post, enabling the Pride to pull out their second straight draw.

“Overall, the back line, they were brilliant. They were fully together,” Hines said after the game. “They were communicating really well, they were confident in everything that they did, and it’s really important that we have those sort of characteristics amongst the group. It doesn’t matter, again, if you’re right back, you know, can you fill in at center back. And I thought with the absentees with Rafa, Kylie, Emily all missing, and I thought those two were terrific tonight.”

In the most recent game against the Chicago Red Stars, the Pride back line was missing multiple players again. While Rafaelle was still out with her foot injury, Martinez got the start in place of McCutcheon. The young defender wasn’t as successful in her second start, coming off at halftime for the veteran. However, the Pride once again held the opposition to one goal and even had their first lead of the season.

The resilience of the back line has been noticeable early in the season due to the injuries, but it’s not the only part of the team. Messiah Bright had a fantastic rookie season in 2023, but asked for a trade during the off-season, eventually landing with Angel City. The club signed Simone Charley and Zambian international Barbra Banda to replace the young striker, using the second-highest transfer fee in league history for the latter. However, Banda is attempting to help her national team qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics and has yet to play for her new club. Charley could’ve stepped in, but suffered a season-ending injury during preseason.

Once again, Hines has used the versatility of his players to fill in for the absences. Ally Watt would be the most obvious starting forward, but she was out for the season opener. As a result, midfielder Adriana got the start up top. Watt returned for the next two games, but didn’t find the back of the net. During the most recent game against Chicago, Watt, Marta, and Adriana all spent time up top for the Pride.

While the Pride have only scored four goals in the first three games, they’ve been putting pressure on the opposition. They’ve had more possession in each contest and more shots in two of the three games. The only one in which they didn’t create more chances than the opponent was against Racing Louisville when both teams had eight shots.

Even with several players missing, the Pride will consider the three points disappointing. They probably should’ve beaten Angel City and Chicago in their first two home games, but only put 10 of their 35 shots on target. Better shooting accuracy would likely have seen this team near the top of the standings.

While there is some disappointment to the start of the 2024 season, the resilience of this team is undeniable. On the defensive end, multiple players have been thrown into the starting lineup and placed in unfamiliar positions. The strong performances by these replacements will serve the team if other injuries occur during the season.

The Pride got off to a terrible start last year, losing their first four games while scoring only once and conceding 10 goals. They still climbed back and nearly made the playoffs. The 2024 campaign has gotten off to a much better start, claiming points in the first three matches. The resilience of this team when facing adversity has already been on display this year and will greatly impact any success they have this season.