Orlando Pride vs. Houston Dash: Final Score 3-1 as Pride Claim Three Points in Front of Record Crowd

The Orlando Pride (16-0-6, 54 points) beat the Houston Dash (4-13-5, 17 points) 3-1 tonight at Inter&Co Stadium, extending their season-long unbeaten run in front of a record crowd of 17,087. It is the Pride’s largest crowd since moving into their current stadium and second-largest ever.

The previous record for a Pride game at Inter&Co Stadium was 14,452 on April 22, 2017. The highest attendance in team history is still their first-ever home game of 23,403 on April 23, 2016, at Camping World Stadium.

“I’ve said it from the start, we’ve had to make it our duty to try to attract more fans to come watch us play,”Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines said about the record crowd. “I know behind the scenes the front office are doing a terrific job to continue to try to promote fans to come out and support this team, and our job is to put the performances together. And I can assure you, the players are giving absolutely everything. They are doing the most to go out there and perform at their highest level and get victories. And I think tonight epitomizes with the crowd coming out and showing their support for this team. Because they’ve done so well this year.”

Carson Pickett gave the Pride the lead in the 29th minute and Angelina doubled the advantage in the 51st minute. Yuki Nagasato got one back for the Dash in the 53rd minute before Marta put the game away in the second minute of second-half injury time.

Hines made two changes to the team that beat Bay FC 1-0 on Sept. 20. Kylie Strom and Summer Yates entered the starting lineup, replacing Kerry Abello and Angelina. Additionally, midfielder Viviana Villacorta was on the bench for the first time this season.

The back line in front of goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse was Pickett, Strom, Emily Sams, and Cori Dyke. Morgan Gautrat and Yates were the defensive midfielders behind Julie Doyle, Marta, and Adriana with Barbra Banda up top.

As you might expect from a game between teams at either end of the standings, the Pride dominated this contest. Houston’s chances on goal were few and far between, while the Pride constantly threatened to extend their lead. Nagasato’s 53rd-minute goal kept the Dash in the game until the end, when Marta scored from a great individual effort, ensuring her team would take all three points.

The Pride nearly had the first chance of the game in the third minute when Adriana sent a cross into the center of the box. Doyle was making a run with a defender on her back and couldn’t quite reach the pass.

In the 13th minute, Banda played a give-and-go with Doyle, resulting in Doyle sending the striker into the box. Banda did well to bring the ball down and set herself up for a shot. Unfortunately, the attempt was directly into the arms of Houston goalkeeper Jane Campbell.

Yates made a good run forward in the 18th minute as Banda made her way into the Houston box. Yates sent her forward as the striker tussled with Paige Nielsen. It looked like Nielsen was holding onto Banda as she sent a weak shot wide, but referee Iryna Petrunok determined it wasn’t a foul and awarded the Dash a goal kick.

The Pride had another good chance in the 23rd minute when a low Adriana cross was knocked out for a corner kick. The set piece was headed away, but only to Adriana, who was fouled by Barbara Olivieri 25 yards from goal. Marta stepped up to take the free kick, sending it into the wall. The block went right back to the Pride captain and she curled her second shot wide of the target.

The hosts had been knocking on the door and finally broke through in the 29th minute. It started when Banda got her head to Doyle’s cross but sent it wide. Marta collected the ball and played it back for Dyke, who sent a cross towards the back post. After being involved in the initial buildup, Pickett was making a run and got her head to the ball, placing it past Campbell and inside the far post to give the Pride a 1-0 lead.

The goal was Pickett’s first in 43 appearances for the Pride.

“Cori Dyke. What an unbelievable service,” Pickett said. “Like I said on the TV interview, I credit it to her, because I would have never gotten the ball without her. So, yeah, we just, I felt, kind of locked eyes. She saw the back line stepping, I saw the back line stepping, and then she overhit it. And, yeah, I was there. I mean, it was just, it was an unbelievable ball from her. So it’s nice to get my first.”

Doyle sent Marta into the box in the 37th minute, and the Pride captain was in on goal with Nielsen sprinting to get in front of her. However, Marta used a nice touch to her right, causing Nielsen to slide right past. She had space for a shot but sent the attempt right to Campbell.

In the 40th minute, Marta carried the ball to the end line and Avery Patterson caught up to knock it out for a corner kick. The ensuing set piece was to the near post, where Doyle was making a run. The ball bounced off the midfielder and was close to crossing the line, but Campbell saved it with one hand.

The Pride players threw their arms in the air, claiming it was a goal as Marta retained possession. There was a brief stoppage as the video assistant referee looked at the play, eventually determining there wasn’t enough to have Petrunok review it. Marta won another corner kick and this time took it short to Adriana. The Brazilian shot from outside the box, but it was an easy catch for Campbell.

The Dash had their best first-half chance in the third minute of stoppage time when Strom gave the ball away to Andressa in the Pride third of the field. Andressa dribbled towards the Pride box and nobody stepped up to challenge her. The Brazilian accepted the invitation to shoot, sending her attempt straight into the arms of Moorhouse.

The Pride dominated the first 45 minutes with more possession (58%-42%), shots (12-3), shots on target (4-1), crosses (14-5), and corner kicks (6-2). They also had better passing accuracy (87%-78%) in the first half.

Hines made one halftime change, replacing Gautrat with Angelina.

“It’s always a tough decision. I thought Morgan was brilliant,” Hines said. “I thought, you know, she did so well intercepting passes, getting on the ball, linking it, linking play. But I felt at times in that first half, it was getting too stretched at times. You know, Summer is doing a role for us in midfield. She’s more of an attacking player and just getting Ang on the field for 45 minutes, it’s really important that we keep the players fresh and ready to go.”

Shortly after the restart, the Pride set yet another NWSL record, passing 548 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal.

The Pride doubled their lead in the 51st minute when Angelina played the ball forward for Adriana. The midfielder sent a pass into the box for Marta, who had the ball knocked off her foot. It went to Banda, who also had the ball knocked away. However, this time it went to Angelina, who sent a rocket past Campbell to give the Pride a 2-0 lead.

“I’m just really happy to have the opportunity to put the ball in the net. Been working hard for that,” Angelina said. “We’ve been doing a lot of finishing in training, so I’m really glad that I got that one.”

It didn’t take long for the visitors to get on the board, doing so just two minutes later. Receiving the ball in the middle of the field, Elin Rubensson turned Yates and played it to Nagasato, who had gotten behind Dyke. It only took a slight redirection from Nagasato to knock the ball past Moorhouse and cut the Pride’s deficit in half.

The goal was the first conceded by the Pride since a 39th-minute goal by Temwa Chawinga on July 6, a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Current. The Pride had gone 554 minutes without conceding a goal and it was the first since the Olympic break.

“It was just like a tiny, I don’t know. We blacked out that moment,” Angelina said about conceding the goal. “Got too many spaces, let them drive with the ball into the final third, and we don’t need to give them that much space in the game.”

The Pride had a chance to extend their lead for a second time in the 57th minute when Doyle sent Banda down the left. The striker found Adriana making a run towards the six and connected with her in front of goal. The Brazilian tried to use the outside of her foot to redirect the ball on target but sent it wide.

A poor clearance by Houston in the 64th minute gave the Pride another chance when Marta sent Pickett behind the back line. The right back shot from close distance, but Campbell did well to get a piece of the ball, sending it wide.

In the 68th minute, Sophie Schmidt touched the ball off of Banda’s foot and out for a corner kick. The ensuing set piece was cleared away, but the Pride retained possession. Adriana sent a curling ball towards the back post where Strom was making a run and the center back connected with it. However, Campbell made an excellent recovery to get in front of the shot and make the save.

After the play, there was a stoppage for an injury. Hines took the opportunity to make two more changes. Carrie Lawrence and Evelina Duljan came into the game for Dyke and Doyle.

Olivieri tried to make something happen for the visitors in the 80th minute, carrying the ball inside and shooting for the far post. However, she was unable to get over the ball, sending the shot off target.

Hines made his final substitution in the 89th minute, bringing Villacorta into the game for Adriana. It was Villacorta’s first appearance for the Pride since Sept. 17, 2023, after she suffered a torn ACL, her second since being drafted by the club.

“I’ve been here from the start with Viv’s Orlando Pride career and it’s been very stop-start. She’s suffered with a lot of major injuries and she’s worked tremendously hard,” Hines said. “You know, going back to the end of last year and seeing her rehab and the medical staff had done a terrific job of getting her into this position. We’ve been a little bit more cautious than most players who were coming back from an ACL based on this past history, but we felt she was ready to go. And, you know, she took her opportunity. It’s nerve-wracking, obviously, that first time you go back onto the field. But we decided just to throw her in and she did a good job in midfield.”

The Dash had a chance to equalize shortly after the substitution when an initial shot was blocked and fell to Olivieri. The Venezuelan international laid it off for Diana Ordonez, who took a shot but sent it off target.

The Dash were searching for the equalizing goal, but the Pride were the ones to strike, putting the game away. In the second minute of stoppage time, Marta made a long run into the Houston box. She used a stepover to beat Jyllissa Harris and sent a strong shot to the far corner past Campbell and in to give the Pride a 3-1 lead.

“Pretty amazing,” Angelina said about Marta’s goal. “I mean, the whole team was just jogging forward and she took it herself and made it happen. She’s amazing.”

In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Angelina pushed Andressa over from behind, earning a yellow card. Schmidt and Andressa stood over the ball with the latter taking the free kick. It was a solid strike, but Moorhouse tipped it over the crossbar.

The ensuing corner kick was redirected on goal, but Moorhouse was there again to make the catch.

A minute after that chance, Patterson dribbled down the right and into the Pride box. The midfielder took the shot herself, but it was from a tight angle and didn’t cause any trouble for the Pride goalkeeper.

The Dash continued to push forward in an attempt to get a second goal, but they were unable to create any other threats and the Pride came away with the win.

The Pride led every significant statistical category in this game, with more possession (55.2%-44.8%), shots (22-14), shots on target (9-6), crosses (17-8), and corner kicks (8-4). They also had better passing accuracy (83.2%-77.3%) than the Dash.

“We knew that we had more goals on the table. We knew that we could go and get that third goal and that showed in the performance after Houston scores. We created more opportunities, more passages of play,” Hines said. “But I think we’ve got to respect the competition as well. There’s no easy games in this league. As much as people might look at the standings, teams like Houston, Utah, Seattle, they’re good teams with good players. And they can punish you. And tonight, we let our guard down a little bit. You know, we allowed them to get back into the game, but our reaction was brilliant.”

While the team set a new league record for consecutive minutes without a goal, the Pride failed to set another record. Coming into this game, Orlando was tied with the 2016 Seattle Reign and 2021 North Carolina Carolina with five consecutive games without conceding. One more shutout would’ve seen the Pride hold that record alone, but a brief lapse in concentration saw them concede in the league for the first time in nearly three months.

The team now sits on 54 points, tying the 2014 Seattle Reign and 2018 North Carolina Courage for the most points in a single season in NWSL history. The Pride’s 16 wins place them only one behind the 2018 Courage for the most in league history.

Most importantly, the Pride claimed all three points. The win extends the team’s unbeaten run to 23 games, dating back to last season, and 26 games if you include the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup. They continue to be on pace to become the first NWSL team to finish a season undefeated. The Washington Spirit beat Angel City FC 2-1 Friday night, so the three points gained lifts the Pride back to seven points clear with four games remaining in the season.

The Pride will return to Inter&Co Stadium on Oct. 6 to wrap up their two-game homestand against the Spirit. Only the Spirit, Current, and NJ/NY Gotham FC can catch the Pride and both the Current and Gotham play on Oct. 5. So the Pride could clinch the NWSL Shield with a win against Washington.