Takeaways from Orlando’s Matches in the Summer Cup

Before the Orlando Pride even took the field at Inter&Co Stadium Thursday night, they were already eliminated from the inaugural NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup. Qualifying for the semifinals was always going to be a challenge, as several key players were away on international duty, and only a total of four teams could advance from five groups. Of their three matches in the Summer Cup, Orlando drew all three times, finishing third in Group E, a group that included winners North Carolina Courage, as well as Racing Louisville, and C.F. Monterrey Femenil from Liga MX Femenil.

Despite the unceremonious departure from the cup, Orlando’s fans and coaching staff got to see a different side of the club. With six players abroad for the Olympics, the Pride were able to remain undefeated in 2024 using lineups of players not accustomed to being the focal point in attack or defense and young players getting the most minutes of their careers. Of the many takeaways that can be drawn from this short-form tournament, this piece will dive in to how the Pride handled playing in high pressure situations throughout the competition, what injuries occurred during the summer break in NWSL play that may impact the Pride in the league, and how the early elimination from the Summer Cup compares to prior cup appearances.

Beyond this piece, there were several other big topics from the Summer Cup that got their own features on The Mane Land, including what the cup means for the growth of women’s soccer in North America, how Head Coach Seb Hines selected his lineups for the cup, and how Orlando’s young players impressed in the competition.

At the conclusion of the Summer Cup, it is clear that the Pride found themselves challenged in ways that they haven’t been so far in 2024. The first challenge was player availability, which every team in the cup dealt with to varying degrees. Due to the fact that this competition ran at the same time as the Olympics, clubs were forced to rely on players outside of the typical first-choice 11. For Orlando, the absences of Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda for Zambia, Marta, Adriana, Angelina, and Rafaelle for Brazil, and Emily Sams for the U.S. ensured that the Summer Cup would not be business as usual for the club.

Youth Under Pressure

Without their typical starting 11 available to control games start to finish like they have in NWSL league play, the Pride conceded more goals than usual and spent a good chunk of time playing from behind. In their 16 NWSL matches so far this season, Orlando has only trailed for 108 minutes total. Even more astonishing, the Pride have not trailed in a match since the second week of the season, at home against Angel City FC. In the Summer Cup, the Pride trailed for an additional 67 minutes between the matches against the North Carolina Courage and C.F. Monterrey.

Of the match against Monterrey, Seb Hines said, “It’s been a while since we’ve gone a goal down, especially in the regular season, but to be in that situation today at halftime, we talked about what type of team do we want to be when we’re 1-0 down?”

That halftime talk must have been successful, because the Pride went on to find a late equalizer in multiple matches in the Summer Cup. In Orlando’s first match, facing the Courage, the Pride found the equalizer in the 82nd minute after playing from behind since the first half. In the Monterrey match that Hines spoke of, Orlando’s equalizer came in the 83rd minute.

Despite the team being in an unfamiliar position, the players stepped up and showed they could continue to push for points late in matches. Additionally, these late equalizers were only possible because the Pride defense continues to shut opposing teams down late. Regardless of the fact that the defense allowed several uncharacteristic goals in the Summer Cup, the team still did not concede once past the 75th minute. In fact, the latest goal the Pride have conceded all year was a 71st-minute goal by Izzy D’Aquila of the Portland Thorns, which only halved the winning margin for Orlando in that match.

As a reward for these late equalizers, Orlando participated in its first ever competitive penalty shootout against North Carolina, then again against Monterrey, and a final time against Louisville. The winning team from PKs received an additional point in the group standings. While the Pride only won one out of three shootouts, the spot kicks did afford another high stakes situation for the Pride players to experience performing under pressure in an elimination type of setting.

Orlando Health

Results of the Summer Cup aside, a key goal for the break in league play was to stay healthy. Considering their first place position in the NWSL, it was very important for the Pride to remain fit and not impact the remainder of the season. Unfortunately, outcomes on this front were mixed, and the Pride may not be full strength when the NWSL restarts.

In the first match of the Summer Cup, Bri Martinez sustained a lower leg injury that kept her from competing in the following two matches. In the same match, Kerry Abello and Haley McCutcheon both sustained knocks as well, and they were kept out of the second match as a precaution. Both returned for the final match and appeared to be fully fit. However, in that match, it was Cori Dyke who went down with what seemed to be a head injury. While neither Dyke nor Martinez are in the top 10 in the squad in minutes played, they feature regularly in defense, often to help the team see out a close result. If they were to miss time, it would surely impact the club’s defensive depth and adaptability.

In addition to the Summer Cup, the Olympics have also yielded concerning injury news for the Pride. Brazilian defender Rafaelle left her national team’s quarterfinals matchup with France with an injury and was seen afterwards using crutches. Her absence from any NWSL match would loom large, though Hines and the squad managed a prior period without her at start of league play due to a separate injury. Considering the risk of further injuries, it is not all bad news that Orlando was eliminated from the Summer Cup in the group stage. Winning the group would have meant another match this week and potentially a match in late October during the final days of the regular season. More congestion at that pivotal time in the hunt for the NWSL Shield could have been a detriment to Orlando’s biggest goals.

Comparing Cup Performances

The final takeaway for this piece is that despite Orlando’s year-over-year improvement in NWSL league play, the team’s finishes in cup competitions have not kept pace. Below is a table showing the outcomes and records from five competitions, including the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup that Orlando was forced to withdraw from due to several positive COVID-19 tests in the squad.

The most striking point from the table above is that in 19 cup matches to date, the Pride have only won once. Each year, the competitions have been different formats and timeframes, but results have stayed relatively the same. In the early years of the Challenge Cup, Orlando struggled significantly in NWSL play, too. The past two years, however, league and cup play have diverged. As mentioned above, player availability is a significant factor, and Orlando’s coaches value player rotation and opportunities for young players as much as the scoreline in these games. Regardless, the number and/or size of cup competitions may grow in coming seasons, and the Pride will not be missing players due to the Olympics, so a change in fortune in non-league competition could be a reasonable goal.

The 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup was a new and exciting way to fill the month-long gap in NWSL play for the Olympics. While many key players were missing, the Pride were able give a couple matches’ worth of minutes to players who don’t typically play as often. After spending a large part of the matches playing down a goal and looking for an equalizer, it is impressive that Orlando continued its undefeated streak in 2024.

After the club’s final game in the Summer Cup, Head Coach Seb Hines had this to say about the experience, “I think, looking back, it’s been a good test for us, especially with so many players away on international duty. It allowed us to give other players an opportunity to go out there and perform and still stay at a high standard and see where players are at.”