The Orlando Pride (11-0-5, 38 points) went on the road and handed the Kansas City Current (10-1-5, 35 points) their first loss of the season, winning 2-1 at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City. The Pride’s Barbra Banda and the Current’s Temwa Chawinga — the two top scorers in the NWSL — traded goals in the first half, and Marta scored the winner with a penalty kick in the second half.

Orlando was reduced to 10 players in the 42nd minute after Carrie Lawrence received her second yellow card, but the Pride were still able to win their 11th game of the season, claiming the battle of the league’s last two remaining unbeaten teams. The result extended the Pride’s unbeaten streak this season to 16 games — 17 dating back to last year’s season finale — and they are now first in the league standings.

Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made one change to the lineup that won 3-0 against Angel City FC, with Angelina replacing Haley McCutcheon in the midfield. It was Angelina’s first start since undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on her knee on May 9. Anna Moorhouse started in goal behind a back line of Kerry Abello, Kylie Strom, Emily Sams, and Lawrence. Julie Doyle, Angelina, Summer Yates, and Adriana made up the midfield, while Marta played a bit further up the pitch with Banda up top.

The Pride wasted no time in attacking and created the game’s first chance in the second minute. Banda charged toward the end line on the right and her shot forced a save from Current goalkeeper Adrianna Franch. Orlando cycled the rebound around until it wound up at the feet of Angelina, who took a low, driven shot from distance that Franch was able to gather.

It was just the start of a frantic battle between the league’s top offenses, as the match featured plenty of counterattacking. The duel between Strom and Michelle Cooper was one to watch up and down the wing and highlighted the back-and-forth nature of the match. Strom defended well against Cooper, but the 21-year-old had the Current’s first real chance in the sixth minute when a decent cross found her in the box, only for her to send it over the bar. Abello then went the other way, winning a corner after her cross was blocked.

Another important battle between individual players was Lawrence’s defense against Chawinga. It was just Lawrence’s second start this season after her injury in last year’s preseason, and stopping Chawinga is arguably the toughest assignment in the league. Chawinga is particularly lethal when counterattacking and Lawrence picked up the first yellow card in the 14th minute when she pulled the Malawian forward’s shirt to slow her down on the break. Though the Pride were able to safely deal with the ensuing free kick, the card put Lawrence in a tough spot early.

Sams made a critical tackle against Chawinga soon after, one of many great contributions from the defender. However, Chawinga was relentless in this match and had another chance in the 17th minute, nearly getting on the end of a loose ball in the box. However, Moorhouse was there to collect it and see out the danger. Moorhouse was called to action again in the 20th minute, making a save but spilling the rebound before chasing it down to push it out of play.

It was a physical match, and Marta received a yellow card in the 23rd minute for her reaction to a hard foul from Claire Lavogez. Marta will likely be heading back to Orlando with some bumps and bruises as it was just one of many times during the match that she was knocked down. Strom spoke after the match about how Marta’s passion in this match was a rallying point of sorts for the team.

“You saw the fire in her eyes today, and that is so contagious,” Strom said. “We see her fighting, and she’s the one throwing her body in front of everything, putting everything on the line. Everybody gets behind that, everybody in the locker room. We are so connected and that’s something so special with this team.”

That passion was evident soon after that foul, as Marta hustled to get in the way of an attempted clearance by the Current soon after. Banda was quick to get to the loose ball in the box, but she was forced into a tough angle and sent her shot wide.

In the 28th minute, the Current picked up their first yellow card of the night after Claire Hutton kicked the back of Marta’s leg while defending her.

The hydration break did little to slow down the breakneck pace of the game. In the 32nd minute, Marta didn’t get all of the ball on an attempted shot and the Current sprinted the other way. Lavogez took a crack at goal herself from outside the box, but the shot went just over the ball. A minute later, Marta was fouled yet again, this time in a decent area from distance. Angelina lobbed the free kick over the Kansas City defense, but Franch was there to catch it.

The Pride finally broke through in the 37th minute. Adriana found a nice pocket of space between Kansas City defenders and Marta found her fellow Brazilian with a nice pass. Adriana didn’t take long to shoot and it never had a chance at going in, but it did deflect off of Elizabeth Ball and Banda was there to jump on the opportunity. The Zambian forward was on it in an instant and beat Franch to give the Pride the lead.

Barbra Banda makes it look so easy doesn't she? pic.twitter.com/4nAay3PryW

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 7, 2024

It was Banda’s 12th goal in what has been a fantastic first season in Orlando. With that goal, she took the lead in the NWSL Golden Boot race as well.

That lead, both for the Pride and Banda, lasted all of two minutes. Chawinga bested Lawrence and was then off to the races, dribbling through Orlando’s defense and putting her shot past Moorhouse for the equalizer in the 39th minute. It was Chawinga’s 12th goal of the season as well.

Calm, cool and collected. Temwa Chawinga DELIVERS! pic.twitter.com/BEc5lpDNjn

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 7, 2024

The game wasn’t done changing though, as Lawrence received her second yellow card in the 42nd minute and was sent off. Lawrence had been defending Chawinga yet again and left her feet to tackle the forward from behind, leaving the Pride with just 10 players for the remainder of the match. Even though halftime was looming, Seb Hines immediately made a change with his first substitution in the 44th minute, bringing off Doyle to add another defender in Rafaelle. Hines has spoken often about the importance of goals right before halftime, so it made sense for him to bring on Rafaelle immediately to prevent conceding a late, first-half goal.

Chawinga nearly had her brace in the 46th minute after a nice first touch to beat Sams and set up a shot. Moorhouse redeemed herself with a phenomenal diving save to nudge the curling shot just wide and out for a corner. While she had some worrying moments in this match, this save was one of Moorhouse’s best of the season.

Although down a player, the Pride didn’t stop pushing for a goal offensively to close out the first half. However, despite a flurry of corner kicks from Orlando, the first half ended with the game tied 1-1 and the Pride at a disadvantage due to Lawrence’s exit.

The Pride had more possession (53%-47%), shots (7-6), shots on target (5-4), corner kicks (4-1),and crosses (9-8). The Pride also completed 76% of their passes, while the Current were successful on 72% of theirs.

Hines made another change at halftime, replacing Yates with McCutcheon in the midfield.

It didn’t take long into the second half for Marta to be fouled again, with Lo’eau LaBonta receiving a yellow card this time. The medical team came out as she stayed down, but Marta was ultimately able to continue.

It was hard to tell that the Pride were down a player at times, as Banda and Marta required plenty of attention from the Current and the team remained organized and consistent with its pressure. This wasn’t the first time the Pride have played well after a red card this season and it showed.

“You have to manage those moments. You have to not find excuses,” Hines said. “It could have been very easy to give up and say, ‘You know what, we’re playing the top of the table tonight at their grounds, we’re down to 10 players.’ That could have been your excuse, but we’re not like that. That’s not the attitude. That’s not the character that we have in this group. They embrace it. They use it as fuel. Even when things are going against them, they step up and have great attitudes throughout the whole game.”

Adriana, Banda, and Marta all had their shots blocked in a barrage of chances for Orlando in the 51st minute, earning a corner for their efforts. That corner was cleared by the Current and Chawinga was wreaking havoc at the other end in a flash. Her cross skipped in front of goal, but Moorhouse collected it before the Current could capitalize. In the 55th minute, Chawinga sent a shot directly at Moorhouse. The goalkeeper couldn’t handle it, but her back line was able to clear away the danger during the panic.

Kansas City Head Coach Vlatko Andonovski made his first substitution in the 56th minute, bringing in Bayley Feist for Lavogez. In the 57th minute, Hailie Mace was shown a yellow card for yet another foul against Marta.

Things took an unexpected turn in the 60th minute. Sams came up with another important tackle to spark a counterattack that sent Banda downfield in a hurry. The forward dribbled towards the box and then slipped a nice pass in to tee up a shot for Adriana. The Brazilian’s first shot was blocked, and she rushed to poke at the rebound, getting fouled by Franch in the process. Franch was shown a yellow card while Adriana remained down and the Pride were awarded a penalty. Marta took it and beat Franch to give Orlando an unlikely lead while down a player on the road. Purists may say her penalty kick was too driven to be a panenka, but it was crafty, deceptive, and wound up in the back of the net all the same.

Oh so smooth @martavieiras10 👀

📺 @IONNWSL pic.twitter.com/fOceleB3qt

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 7, 2024

The goal showcased Orlando’s commitment to keep attacking for a winner despite being a player down in the second half.

“It didn’t change,” Hines said in regards to the team’s game plan after the red card. “We came into this game with the intention that we wanted to win. Whether we have 10 players or 11 players, it doesn’t matter. We always feel like there’s an opportunity for us to win.”

Chasing a result, Feist had a shot from distance in the 66th minute. It took a deflection, but Moorhouse was able to make the save without any trouble. Hutton had a shot from distance in the 68th minute, but it went over the crossbar. The Pride’s defense did a great job limiting the Current to tougher shooting opportunities and pressed when needed to stop Kansas City from gaining momentum.

Hines then added some fresher legs with a pair of substitutions in the 69th minute, with Cori Dyke and Ally Watt replacing Adriana and Angelina. Watt did fairly well when defending and applying pressure, although she did concede a foul in the 74th minute that gave the Current a free kick in a dangerous area. Debinha is lethal from set piece situations, but the Pride’s wall did its job to stop the shot.

Banda had a chance to expand Orlando’s lead in the 80th minute, but Franch managed an impressive kick save to deny her. She had another chance in the 84th minute while surrounded by Kansas City players, but her shot went wide.

Andonovski made another change in the 85th minute, with Brazilian defender Lauren coming on for Ball. The Current started to pick up the pace, creating better opportunities as the game neared its end. Feist had a shot from distance that went over the bar like many others, but it wasn’t off by much.

Hines responded by bringing in another defender, with Bri Martinez coming off the bench for Marta to help see out the match. Moorhouse came up with another big save in stoppage time against Ellie Wheeler after the ball took a weird bounce off of Abello. The Current were relentless, but the Pride proved why they have the best defense in the league.

“I think it says so much about our mentality,” Abello said after the match. “Going a player down obviously isn’t the best situation, but you can still get points. We’ve played some of our better football when we’re a player down. We still found the spaces. We still played well. It’s all about making good decisions and just being gritty in the defensive third.”

Mace had a shot with plenty of heat on it that went just off target and Chawinga put a header wide of goal in the final moments in the Current’s best chances of an onslaught of attacks successfully endured by the Pride. The final whistle blew after a little over 10 minutes of stoppage time and the Pride claimed all three points on the road.

Lawrence’s red card shifted things as far as statistics go, but it was far from one-sided, as the Current finished with more possession (57%-43%), shots (23-15), shots on target (13-11), and crosses (26-11). The Current also completed 74% of their passes while the Pride completed 68% of theirs. Both teams had five corner kicks. Moorhouse finished the game with seven saves, and Franch ended up with three.

“We showed so much character, so much heart,” Strom said. “To be honest, even when we went a man down, we were never in doubt. We knew we could win this game. From the beginning of this year, we knew we had something special with this team and we just proved it.”

There was plenty of attention on this match as it pitted the league’s two previously undefeated sides against each other for the first time this season. It was the most impressive result yet for a team that has far exceeded expectations this season. Seb Hines has spoken often this year about the team’s tenacity and this match was a testament to the work the Pride have put in to reach the top of the table.

“To go down to 10 players so early in the game and show the character that we’ve been talking about all season long is just incredible,” Hines said. “To come into this environment, we knew that was going to be a tough game. Same amount of points, same amount of wins, same amount of ties, there was nothing between us going into this game. I think we showed our character, our personality.”

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The win gives the Orlando Pride sole possession of first place in the NWSL standings after 16 games. They are in a great spot as the league takes a break for the Olympics and the Summer Cup. Marta, Adriana, Rafaelle, Angelina, Banda, and Grace Chanda will all be in Paris for the tournament.

The Pride’s next game will come in the group stage of the inaugural NWSL X Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup when they take on the North Carolina Courage on July 20. Their next NWSL match isn’t until Aug. 23, when they face the Houston Dash on the road.

The Orlando Pride (10-0-5, 35 points) continue their road trip as they face the Kansas City Current (10-0-5, 35 points) in a clash of the unbeatens. This is the first time the top two teams in the NWSL will face off this season with the second meeting in Orlando scheduled for Sept. 13.

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

History

The Current joined the NWSL in 2021 after the team’s ownership group bought the Utah Royals and relocated the club to Kansas City. It’s the second NWSL team in the city — FC Kansas City played there from 2013 to 2017 before moving to Utah — and the team was known as NWSL Kansas City for its inaugural season.

The Pride and Current have played six games against each other, all in the regular season. Orlando has a 2-2-2 record in the series and both teams have scored nine goals.

The two teams last met on June 23, 2023 in Orlando. The visitors took the lead through Debinha, and Cece Kizer doubled the advantage just before halftime. Marta converted a penalty to pull one back, but the Pride fell 2-1. The first time they met in 2023 was on April 23 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City. It was scoreless after an hour before the Current got a quick flurry of goals by Debinha and Kizer, lifting Kansas City to a 2-0 win.

Their first meeting in 2022 came on July 31 in Kansas City while the Pride were in the middle of their seven-game unbeaten run. The Pride opened the scoring when Erika Tymrak found the head of Celia and doubled the lead just after halftime through Julie Doyle. The Current stormed back with goals by Elyse Bennett and Kizer, pulling out a 2-2 draw.

The first game between the two in 2022 was on May 14 at Exploria Stadium. The Pride took the lead early in the second half on a Gunny Jonsdottir goal. Bennett scored late in the second half, and the visitors appeared to win the game a minute into injury time through Kristen Hamilton. However, Kylie Strom was pulled down in the box five minutes later, resulting in a penalty. With Marta injured, the only player willing to step up to take the penalty was center back Toni Pressley, who drilled the ball into the roof of the net, pulling out a 2-2 draw.

The teams played twice during the 2021 NWSL season, with the first game occurring May 30 at Exploria Stadium. Courtney Petersen found Alex Morgan just outside the six-yard box and the striker headed in the game’s lone goal as the Pride won 1-0.

The Pride and Current met again on June 23 at Legends Field in Kansas City. The Pride had a weakened squad as then-coach Marc Skinner left some key players at home, preparing to lose them to the Olympics. It looked to be costly when Mariana Larroquette gave the hosts the lead late in first-half injury time. But the Pride responded well. Two minutes after Larroquette’s goal, Sydney Leroux’s shot took a deflection off a defender and went in to make it 1-1. Shortly after halftime, Leroux scored on a great individual effort from just outside the box. Marta then scored the goal of the game, beating Kansas City goalkeeper Abby Smith from the top of the center circle, lifting the Pride to a 3-1 win.

Overview

This is the game the NWSL has been waiting for as the Pride and Current are the only two remaining undefeated teams in the league. The Current extended their unbeaten run, which dates back to last season, to 17 games with a 2-0 win over the Houston Dash on June 28. The Pride followed that with a dominant 3-0 win over Angel City FC Sunday night, extending their overall unbeaten run to 16 games.

Tonight is the last Pride game before the league breaks for the Summer Olympics. The Pride saw their league record eight-game winning streak come to an end on the last road trip, which featured a pair of draws. Returning home, they beat the Utah Royals 6-0 in a historic victory and had a similar showing in their 3-0 win over Angel City away. They’ll look to head into the Olympic break on a three-game winning streak and couldn’t be in better form heading into this crucial game.

The Pride and Current both have a league-best +19 goal difference but have done it in different ways. While the Pride have been a solid team defensively, Kansas City has built its goal difference with offense, leading the league with 39 goals — nine more than the second-place Pride.

Temwa Chawinga has been the primary offensive threat for the Current with a league-leading 11 goals. That total is tied with Orlando’s Barbra Banda, but the Pride striker has done it in four fewer games and has one fewer assist. Additionally, Bia Zaneratto and Lo’eau LaBonta have five goals, Vanessa DiBernardo has four, and Claire Lavogez has two. The remaining goals are shared by a number of players with one.

Chawinga also leads the Current in assists with six, followed by DiBernardo with five, Zaneratto with four, and Elizabeth Ball with three.

The Current haven’t been as good defensively as the Pride, sitting in the middle of the standings with 20 goals conceded. The 2-0 win over the Dash on June 28 was their fourth shutout of the season. The key to the Current’s success this year has been their ability of one side to pick up the other. They score several goals when conceding and have kept their opponents off the board when their offense struggles.

“We’re just over halfway through the season. We approach the match the same as we have done every other game as well. It doesn’t change for us. We prepared the same way and we’ve trained the same way,” Pride Head Coach Seb Hines said about tonight’s game. “We’re looking forward to an exciting game away at Kansas City. We still want to be in contention at the end of the year. We’ve done exceptionally well at the start of the year and couldn’t have imagined being in this position, still being unbeaten. We just approached it like we have done every game we’ve played. It will be a challenge. It will be at times difficult, but these players have shown that they’re capable of producing in those tough, tough moments.”

There are some changes to the Pride availability list this week. Morgan Gautrat (concussion) is available and Rafaelle (leg) is completely off the injury list. Simone Charley (leg), Luana (illness), Megan Montefusco (heel), and Viviana Villacorta (knee) remain out for the year and Haley McCutcheon (illness) is listed as questionable.

Kansas City will be without Alex Pfeiffer (knee), Gabrielle Robinson (knee), Mallory Weber (knee), and Zaneratto (foot) due to injuries, and Nichelle Prince (Canada) is on international duty. DiBernardo (head) is listed as questionable.

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Projected Lineups

Orlando Pride (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Anna Moorhouse.

Defenders: Kerry Abello, Kylie Strom, Rafaelle, Emily Sams.

Defensive Midfielders: Morgan Gautrat, Summer Yates.

Midfielders: Julie Doyle, Marta, Adriana.

Forward: Barbra Banda.

Kansas City Current (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Adrianna Franch.

Defenders: Izzy Rodriguez, Stine Ballisager, Elizabeth Ball, Hailie Mace.

Defensive Midfielders: Claire Hutton, Lo’eau LaBonta.

Midfielders: Temwa Chawinga, Debinha, Michelle Cooper.

Forward: Claire Lavogez.

Referees

REF: Joshua Encarnacion.
AR1: John Krill.
AR2: Art Arustamyan.
4TH: Iryna Petrunok.
VAR: Kevin Broadley.
AVAR: Tom Felice.

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How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: CPKC Stadium — Kansas City, MO.

TV: ION.

Streaming: None.

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

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Enjoy the game. Go Pride!

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the best team in Orlando at dribbling the ball?

I am a huge basketball fan, and I watch as many Orlando Magic games as I can, but even as good as the Magic were this year, they cannot compare to the Orlando Pride. At no point in the rest of this article will I reference the Magic, but I do want to spend some time writing about magic — specifically, just how magical the Pride players have been with the ball at their feet thus far this season.

The Pride’s offensive game plan is clearly designed around getting the ball to the feet of their playmakers and allowing them to go to work attacking the goal, and as you will see in the rest of this article, they are doing so at a significantly higher and more successful rate than every other team in the NWSL.

Take a look at the chart below, which shows that the Pride are leading the league in progressive carries (defined by fbref.com as carries (dribbles) of at least 10 yards towards the goal while in the attacking half of the field) as a percentage of all carries.

That 6.4% value in the chart above translates to 19.7 progressive carries per game, which is 33% higher than the average of 14.7 per game for all of the other NWSL teams. There is a strong positive correlation (r = 0.71 on a scale of 0 to 1) between progressive carries and points earned this season, something you can see by noting that the two teams tied for first place in points (the Pride and the Kansas City Current) are also leading in progressive carry percentage, and three of the bottom four in points (the Houston Dash, San Diego Wave and Seattle Reign) are in the bottom three for progressive carry percentage.

Correlation does not imply causation, of course, but having players who can frequently dribble for 10 or more yards, weaving through defenders like traffic cones, means they have speed and excellent footwork — two skills that are critical in any good offense.

The 2024 Pride have several players with these qualities, as evidenced by their NWSL ranks in several key dribbling categories. Using data from fbref.com, there are 111 NWSL players who have played at least 500 minutes and attempted to take on a defender one on one while dribbling at least 10 times this season, and below is a list of all the Pride players who qualify and where they rank among those 111 players:

A few takeaways from this data:

• Has anyone ever seen Barbra Banda and Superwoman in the same location at the same time? There are only so many superlatives I can use when writing about the Pride’s superstar striker, who in addition to the NWSL-leading stats above is also leading the NWSL in another decently important stat: goals. In fairness, she is tied for the league lead in goals with Temwa Chawinga of the Current. Perhaps I should mention though that Banda has scored her tally in 434 fewer minutes! I digress.
• Marta is truly a wonder (woman), she is the third oldest player in all of NWSL and is still beating her defender 61% of the time and averaging more than two take-on wins per 90 minutes.
• The list of NWSL players classified by fbref.com as defenders who have at least 10 carries into the 18 so far this season is: Kerry Abello. She is the list. She would also be the entire list if I lowered the number to at least eight, and only two NWSL defenders have more than five carries into the 18. You definitely have to watch out for Abello flying down the left side of the field, or if you find yourself in the hallways of Jewitt Orthopedic Institute, you clearly need to keep your eyes open as well. Vamos!

The last item I called out on that chart was the ranking of Pride players in carries into the 18, with the 18 of course being the penalty area — the most dangerous area on the field and the place where the vast majority of goals are scored (excluding own goals, the Pride have scored 28 goals this season and 25 came from inside the 18). There are four ways for a ball to enter the opposition’s 18-yard box: a carry, a pass, a shot, or via players on the other team playing it back into the 18 themselves. The primary ways are the first two, and the Pride are one of only two teams in all of NWSL who are carry dominant as opposed to pass dominant:

The Pride are sitting slightly above 60% (62.3% for the math nerds; I’m looking at you, man in the mirror) for what I will call their carry percentage, whereas the average for the rest of the NWSL is 41%. The 2023 Pride used a similar style, though to much lower effect in terms of how it led to goals, with a 61% carry percentage. Go back one year further though to 2022 and the Pride had a 41% carry percentage, but in 2022 Seb Hines did not become head coach until June and Marta was out for the season with an ACL tear. It seems likely to me that Hines and Giles Barnes changed the Pride’s attacking style once they took over leadership of the team and after they had their first full preseason with the squad going into the 2023 season.

It certainly helps to have one of the greatest offensive players of all time in Marta and perhaps the greatest current offensive player in Banda on the team, but as seen via the stats from the other players on the team, it is not just those two who are attacking successfully off the dribble. The Pride have five players who play starter minutes and average more than two progressive carries per 90 minutes, including a striker (Banda), three midfielders (Adriana, Julie Doyle and Marta) and a defender (Abello).

As mentioned previously, the team averages 33% more progressive carries per 90 minutes than the league average, which puts defenders under incredible strain as they are seeing players come at them from all locations on the field with a head of steam and who are generally quite successful when they get into 1-v-1 take-on situations (the Pride as a team have a 47.2% take-on win percentage, second in the NWSL).

This Pride team has been relentless this season with how it attacks in all phases of the game. They start from the opening kickoff and never stop until the final whistle. They have scored 12 goals in the first 30 minutes, 10 goals in the middle 30 minutes, and eight goals in the final 30 minutes, leaving you no choice but to never take your eyes off this team, because at any moment you might be one play away from watching some Orlando magic.