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Orlando Pride Scenarios for the Shield, Playoff Matchups, and Broken Records

With just four matches left to play, the Pride are on the verge of some monumental accomplishments.

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Mark Thor

The Orlando Pride are in a great position with just four games remaining in the NWSL regular season. After remaining undefeated through the first 22 games, they have established a seven-point lead at the top of the table. With a matchup against the second-place Washington Spirit looming, the Pride could win the NWSL Shield as soon as this weekend — at Inter&Co Stadium no less. There is everything to play for in the coming weeks, so how do the scenarios play out for the shield, potential playoff opponents, and several NWSL regular-season records that may still be broken?

The Shield Race

The NWSL shield is the trophy awarded to the club that finishes the regular season with the highest point total, and though the Orlando Pride are clear favorites, there is still work to be done to clinch the award. Shown below are the four teams that remain in the shield race and the “magic number” needed for the Pride to finish above them, with more explanation below the table.

PositionTeamPointsMagic Number
1Orlando Pride54
2Washington Spirit476
3Gotham FC443
4KC Current432
Orlando’s magic numbers against the other shield contenders.

The magic number is used to measure what results are needed for the leading team (Orlando) to be mathematically guaranteed of finishing in first place. The magic number for each opposing team counts down until it reaches zero, at which point that team cannot match Orlando’s point total. Specifically, an Orlando win reduces the magic number by three points for each team in the table, and one point for a tie, because they have extended their lead by that many points. When a team below Orlando loses, it reduces that team’s magic number by three points because there are that many fewer points available to gain and catch Orlando. Therefore, when an opposing team ties, it creates a special case that reduces the magic number by two points, because they had the opportunity for three points but dropped two of them.

The example of the Kansas City Current from the table above helps to explain the magic number. As it stands today, the Pride could finish with 54 points, at worst, after four straight losses. Kansas City could finish with 55 points after four wins and claim the shield. If the Current drop two points, or Orlando gains two points, the magic number goes to zero and the Current cannot win the shield. The same math applies for Gotham, where the Pride only need one win (or one loss from Gotham) to make the magic number zero. This shows just how narrow of a path to the shield now remains for Gotham and Kansas City, so only the Spirit can offer a credible challenge.

Considering the Spirit, this weekend’s matchup looms extra large, because head-to-head matches count double in a title race. If the Pride defeat the Spirit, that would reduce the magic number by six, three for Orlando winning and three for Washington losing, and the shield race would be over. For the three remaining matches of the season, Head Coach Seb Hines would be able to rest the squad intelligently and enter the postseason in the best shape possible to play for the NWSL championship. But, don’t expect too much rest for key players, as there would still be the undefeated season to play for.

Even a tie on Sunday would serve Orlando well and reduce the magic number by three. Fans would love it if the club won the shield at home so they could be present for the celebrations, but if that doesn’t happen Sunday, collective stress levels would be better served by winning on the road at Portland or Gotham, rather than waiting until the final match of the season to clinch the trophy. It would also be possible for the Pride to win the shield by tying each remaining match of the season, meaning that the club cannot go undefeated in the regular season and somehow lose the shield.

A loss against the Spirit is where things would start to look a little more challenging for the Pride. After a hypothetical loss, Hines would have to refocus the squad in order to win two of the final three matches, assuming perfection from the Spirit. Unfortunately, Washington does not have any games against top-five opposition after playing the Pride, as the Spirit face Racing Louisville and the Chicago Red Stars at home and North Carolina Courage on the road. While the Spirit have been playing without several injured stars, notably Trinity Rodman and Croix Bethune, they showed their quality and depth by beating Angel City FC away from home in their most recent outing. Fortunately for Orlando, the Pride also currently boast a goal differential eight goals better than the Spirit, so in the unlikely possibility that this tiebreaker matters in back-to-back seasons, the Pride should have the edge.


Playoff Matchups

Behind the excitement of the shield race is the importance of matchups when it comes to the NWSL playoffs. For simplicity’s sake, it is not unreasonable to assume a top-two finish for the Pride, considering the long odds of multiple teams finishing above them after the coming matches. A top-two finish is significant not only because it ensures the first round is played against opposition from middle clubs in the final NWSL table, but it also ensures home field advantage in the second round of the playoffs if the team advances. Despite these advantages, anything can happen in the NWSL playoffs, as Gotham showed last year by finishing in the final playoff spot and then winning three matches en route to being crowned NWSL champions.

Looking at the rest of the NWSL table (below) shows just how many teams Orlando could still face in the first round of the NWSL playoffs. Since Orlando can technically finish anywhere from first to fourth, and no teams have been eliminated from contention, the Pride could play any team in the league in the first round.

PositionTeamPoints
5North Carolina Courage35
6Chicago Red Stars29
7Portland Thorns28
8Bay FC28
9Racing Louisville25
10San Diego Wave22
11Angel City FC22
12Seattle Reign FC20
13Utah Royals FC18
14Houston Dash17
The race for the final playoff positions.

By using some common sense, however, we can whittle the number of potential opponents down to four probable candidates. Based on a top-two finish by Orlando, the Pride would face a team that finishes either seventh or eighth. Then, since only four matches remain and none of the teams in the middle of the pack are lighting the world on fire of late, it’s likely that a team within five points of these positions will end the season there.

This list of expected first-round opponents then can be pared down to Chicago, Portland, Bay, and Racing, as it seems to be just too much ground for the others to make up. The Pride have had solid results against their potential playoff opponents, racking up five wins and two draws, with a match against Portland still upcoming. It doesn’t seem that long ago that Portland and Orlando met on a combined 13-match winning streak, but fortunes have diverged greatly since then and Portland has the league’s worst form and risks missing the playoffs altogether. As the Orlando Pride well know, every team in the league has their day, and the team is sure to take the matchup seriously, no matter who the opponent ends up being.


League Records in Reach

While wins and trophies are all that a roster and coaching staff should worry about, us fans often like to keep track of records set along the way. Due to Orlando’s elite play all season, many of the loftiest league records could be broken before the season ends. Several of these records could take all 26 matches to break, but some, like the points record of 57, set by the Courage in 2018, can be surpassed in the same number of matches that they were set.

NWSL RecordTotalYear and Team2024 Orlando Pride
Most Points572018 Courage54
Fewest Goals Conceded172018 Courage
2021 Thorns
13
Largest Goal Differential+362018 Courage+27
Most Clean Sheets132017 & 2018 Courage
2021 Thorns
12
Longest Win Streak(already broken)2024 Pride8
Longest Unbeaten Streak(already broken)2024 Pride22
NWSL regular-season records that the Pride could break/have broken in 2024.

After going undefeated for 22 matches so far this season, the Orlando Pride are favorites for the NWSL shield. Their additional reward for winning that trophy would be favorable matchups in the playoffs, including home field advantage for the quarterfinals and semifinals. Both of these would have been considered lofty goals at the start of the season, but now, everything is within reach, including some truly incredible records.

Based on the way they’ve carried themselves all year, the players are sure to give it their all and play some damn fine soccer in the final regular season matches. Sunday, they could have a trophy to show for it, and all of Inter&Co Stadium would be there to share in the celebrations. If Sunday isn’t their day, the Pride will have a few more chances for glory in the weeks that follow.

Orlando Pride

Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Pride look to make it five straight wins as they welcome the Washington Spirit to Orlando.

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Welcome to your match thread as the Orlando Pride return home to face the Washington Spirit. This is the second time the teams will meet this year and the first of two regular-season games. They are scheduled to face off again in Washington on Oct. 18.

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

History

The Pride and Spirit have faced off 27 times since the Pride joined the NWSL in 2016. Orlando has a record of 10-9-8 in all competitions against Washington and a 9-6-7 record in NWSL play (regular season and playoffs combined).

The last time these two teams met was on March 7 in the NWSL Challenge Cup. In her first game back since July 6, Rafaelle netted the opening goal to give the Pride a late first-half lead. Leicy Santos equalized in the 72nd minute with a terrific strike, ending the game 1-1. The Spirit won the ensuing shootout 4-2 to claim the preseason trophy.

The first meeting of 2024 was on April 26 in Washington, D.C. Angelina gave the Pride the early lead before Ouleymata Sarr equalized shortly before halftime. A Barbra Banda strike and a Summer Yates penalty conversion in the second half seemed to put the game away, but Anna Moorhouse dropped an easy catch from Ashley Hatch, giving the Spirit a second goal. Fortunately, the Pride held on for the 3-2 win, extending their early-season winning streak to three games.

On Oct. 6, 2024 in Orlando, the Pride were dominant but didn’t convert until Marta scored in the 53rd minute. An Adriana shot was deflected by Tara McKeown for an own goal in the 73rd minute, lifting the Pride to a 2-0 win and clinching the NWSL Shield. The two teams then met on Nov. 23, 2024 in the NWSL Championship. Banda’s 37th-minute goal was the difference in the game as the Pride won their first-ever league title.

The first meeting of 2023 was on May 10 at Audi Field in NWSL Challenge Cup group play. Tori Hansen gave the Pride a surprising early lead, but late first-half goals by Lena Silano, Sam Staab, and Marissa Sheva made it 3-1 Washington at halftime. Ally Watt scored off the bench early in the second half, but Ashley Sanchez put the game away in injury time as the Spirit won 4-2.

The first regular-season matchup of 2023 was on May 20 in Orlando. Marta converted a first-half penalty, but Staab equalized five minutes later. Kylie Strom netted the winner late, and the Pride won 2-1. The Pride dominated the Spirit in the second regular-season matchup on July 1. Julie Doyle had a brace in the first 16 minutes and a McKeown own goal put the game out of reach as the Pride won 3-0.

The final meeting in 2023 was in the Challenge Cup on Aug. 4 in Orlando. The game appeared to be headed for a scoreless draw until Mariana Speckmaier scored eight minutes into second-half injury time, lifting her team to a 1-0 win.

The first game between the teams in 2022 came on May 27 at Exploria Stadium. Trinity Rodman gave the Spirit an early lead and Hatch doubled the advantage after halftime. As the game entered second-half stoppage time, it appeared as though the Pride would fall for the second straight time, but a pair of late goals by Mikayla Cluff and Darian Jenkins stunned Washington with a 2-2 draw. The teams met again on July 17 at Audi Field and the Spirit dominated the game statistically. They had more possession, shots, and shots on target but couldn’t find the back of the net, resulting in a scoreless draw.

Prior to the draw in May, the Pride and Spirit played two games in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. The first was on March 19 in Orlando, playing to a scoreless draw

The second Challenge Cup meeting came on April 3 at Audi Field. Gunny Jonsdottir scored the team’s first goal in four games. However, the Spirit already had a 3-0 lead. Rodman scored a late goal to put the game away as the Pride fell 4-1.

The two teams played four times during 2021. The first was on April 21 in the Challenge Cup. Sydney Leroux’s goal was the only scoring as the Pride won 1-0. Just two games later, the Pride opened their regular season by hosting the Spirit on May 16. Hatch gave Washington the lead, but Alex Morgan equalized to claim a 1-1 draw. The second regular-season meeting that year was on June 6 in Washington. Hatch opened the scoring, but Taylor Kornieck equalized minutes later, resulting in a 1-1 draw. The final meeting of 2021 came Aug. 22 at Audi Field. Marta gave the Pride the lead, but Hatch equalized just two minutes later. It looked like it would be a third straight 1-1 draw but Sanchez won it for Washington late.

Due to the pandemic, the Pride and Spirit didn’t play in 2020 but faced off three times in 2019. The first was on July 6 in Orlando. Marta scored a brace in the second half, leading the Pride to a 4-3 win. They played again on Aug. 24 in Washington. Crystal Thomas gave the hosts the lead and Marta equalized. But Hatch’s goal lifted the Spirit to a 2-1 win. The final game was supposed to be the following weekend but was postponed due to Hurricane Dorian. Instead, the game was played Oct. 9 in Orlando. The Spirit dominated the rubber match, beating the Pride 3-0.

The first of two meetings in 2018 was on March 31 at the Maryland SoccerPlex. Hatch scored a goal and added an assist in a 2-0 win for the Spirit. The Pride got their revenge in the second game in the same location. Alanna Kennedy’s goal was the difference as the Pride won 1-0. The final meeting that year was on July 7 in Orlando. Hatch gave the Spirit the lead, but Leroux scored just before halftime and Marta’s goal gave Orlando the 2-1 win.

The 2017 season was the first time the teams played three times in a year. Their April 22 meeting was the Pride’s first home game that year. Line Sigvardsen-Jensen gave the visitors the lead, but Danica Evans answered as the teams drew 1-1. They met for the second time that year in Maryland on July 8 when Marta and Mallory Pugh both scored braces in a 2-2 draw. The final game in 2018 was on Aug. 8 in Orlando. Marta, Camila, and Morgan all scored as the Pride ran away with a 3-0 win.

The Spirit swept the first two meetings in 2016, winning 2-0 in Maryland and 2-1 in Orlando.

Overview

The Pride have gotten off to a great start to the 2025 NWSL season. They started with a club record-tying 6-0 win over the Chicago Stars and followed that with wins over NJ/NY Gotham FC, San Diego Wave FC, and Seattle Reign FC.

Offensively, the Pride have a league-leading 11 goals, largely sparked by that dominant 6-0 season opener. As expected, Banda leads the team with three goals. Marta and Haley McCutcheon follow with two goals each.

The Pride back line has started this season where it left off last year. Chiamaka Okwuchukwu’s 62nd-minute goal for San Diego on March 29 is the only goal conceded in regular-season play. Only the Kansas City Current have equaled the Pride’s defensive start to the season.

The Spirit have started the season just a bit behind the Pride and Current. After winning the Challenge Cup, last year’s runners up are 3-1-0, with their only loss being a 2-0 defeat at home to the Current.

Outside of the 2-0 loss — the Current are second in the league with 10 goals scored — the Spirit have only conceded once. The last two games have been 2-0 wins over Bay FC and Racing Louisville FC.

The Spirit are led offensively by the always-dangerous Hatch. The U.S. international has four of the team’s six goals, with Santos and Makenna Morris splitting the other two. Santos, Esme Morgan, and Narumi Muira each have one assist so far this year.

Former Pride goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury remains the starter in net for the Spirit. The shot stopper has 13 saves — fourth in the league — and an 0.75 goals-against average — third in the league.

In front of Kingsbury is a strong center back pairing of Tara McKeown and Rebeca Bernal. Casey Krueger and Gabrielle Carle have been the fullbacks until the most recent game when Krueger was out with a knee injury.

“Two teams that are competing to ultimately win the shield. So, there’s not a lot of room for error. It’s fine margins,” Pride Head Coach Seb Hines said about tonight’s game. “They are coming to our place and we want to make that hostile environment with the fans coming out and supporting us. But it should turn out to be an entertaining game. Like I said, both teams are in a good run of form, and so we’re hoping we get the good side of it by getting the three points.”

There’s only one change to the Pride availability report today. Simone Charley (ankle), Luana (illness), Amanda Allen (shoulder), Aryssa Mahrt (knee), Julie Doyle (knee), and Rafaelle (thigh) remain out. They’re joined by Summer Yates (foot) who suffered an injury while assisting Banda’s goal in Seattle on April 12.

The Spirit have an extensive injury list, including Croix Bethune (hip), Emma Gaines-Ramos (knee), Hal Hershfelt (ankle), Lyza Jessee (wrist), Krueger (knee), Paige Metayer (knee), Brittany Ratcliffe (lower leg), Trinity Rodman (back), Ouleye Sarr (back), Andi Sullivan (knee), and Kate Wiesner (hip) all out. Santos (ankle) is questionable.


Official Lineups

Orlando Pride (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Anna Moorhouse.

Defenders: Kerry Abello, Kylie Nadaner, Emily Sams, Oihane.

Defensive Midfielders: Haley McCutcheon, Morgan Gautrat.

Midfielders: Angelina, Marta, Ally Watt.

Forward: Barbra Banda.

Bench: McKinley Crone, Carson Pickett, Cori Dyke, Bri Martinez, Zara Chavoshi, Ally Lemos, Viviana Villacorta, Grace Chanda, Prisca Chilufya.

Washington Spirit (5-3-2)

Goalkeeper: Aubrey Kingsbury.

Defenders: Makenna Morris, Gabrielle Carle, Tara McKeown, Rebeca Bernal, Esme Morgan.

Midfielders: Narumi Miura, Heather Stainbrook, Courtney Brown.

Forwards: Ashley Hatch, Gift Monday.

Bench: Sandy MacIver, Leicy Santos, Rosemonde Kouassi, Kysha Sylla, Kiley Dulaney, Meg Boade, Chloe Ricketts.

Referees

REF: Elton Garcia.
AR1: John Krill.
AR2: Tiffini Turpin.
4TH: Alejo Calume.
VAR: Greg Dopka.
AVAR: Brian Marshall.


How to Watch

Match Time: 5 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV: Ion.

Streaming: Prime Video.

Social Media: For live updates and rapid reaction, follow @themaneland.bsky.social on Bluesky and the Orlando Pride’s official Twitter feed (@ORLPride).


Enjoy the game. Go Pride!

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Orlando Pride

A 360-Degree View of the First 360 Minutes of the Orlando Pride’s Season

A look at the Pride’s offensive and defensive performance through the season’s first four games

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

We are four games into the 2025 Orlando Pride season, and the symmetry of 360 minutes played and looking at the full 360 degrees of the Pride’s performance thus far was too perfect to pass up. A circle, as you all remember from geometry, or trigonometry, or Sesame Street, is perfectly symmetrical, as it can be divided into two congruent parts by any diameter. We will break this article into two parts as well, and I hope you are sitting down because it might shock you that those two parts will be the Pride’s performance thus far on….offense and defense.

Let’s start with offense, as that first letter o looks an awful lot like a circle and we are on a (donut-shaped) roll. The Pride’s offense is off to a fantastic start, with a league-leading 11 goals scored through the first four matches. They have actually scored nine of those goals themselves, seven from open play and two from penalty kicks, and their opponents put two into their own net as well to give them 11. No other Pride team had scored more than six goals through their first four matches, so this squad is off to an unprecedentedly fast start.

The Pride’s performance is not just excellent compared to their own history, but they are near the top in most of the key offensive categories. If you look at Opta’s tracking in the table below you can see how well they have done relative to the rest of the league (all data sourced from fbref.com and fotmob.com; goals scored excludes own goals and NWSL Avg. is the average of every team excluding the Pride).

Metric2025 PerformanceRank in NWSLNWSL Avg.
Goals Scored924.5
Shots on Target %38%534%
Goal Conversion per Shot15%38%
Expected Goals (xG)6.435.1
Goals – Expected Goals+2.613-0.6
Big Chances Created746.6
Big Chances Conversion Rate71%238%

The one major offensive stat that is not great on the above chart is goals – expected goals. That stat is pronounced as “goals minus expected goals,” and is calculated thusly: nine goals scored minus 6.4 expected goals gives the value of +2.6. This means that while the Pride were only expected to score 6.4 goals, they actually scored nine, and so it could be interpreted that they are overperforming, and have been lucky.

Expected goals are really just the measure of how often goals are scored from the locations where the shot was taken from, and so while one interpretation could be that the Pride’s players were lucky, another could be that the Pride’s players are really good, and are simply outperforming the historical expectation that is used for xG. The Pride have Barbra Banda and Marta, two players who were named to the 2024 FIFPro World 11 team (and just received their trophies this week), and a wealth of attacking talent around them, and so while the stats say that the Pride may be benefitting from luck, I think the statisticians might need to circle back on those calculations when there are Pride players on the field.

The last two rows of that table show data about “big chances,” and how the Pride are creating almost two per game. The Pride create their chances off the dribble more than any other team in the NWSL, and they also create their chances by being more accurate with their passes and taking care of the ball better than any other team in the NWSL, as you can see in this table below:

Metric2025 PerformanceRank in NWSLNWSL Avg.
Progressive Carries per 9017.5112.3
Carries into the 18 per 908.013.9
Long Passes Completed per 9037.5330.5
Long Passes Completion Rate59%148%
Short + Med. Passes Completion Rate87%183%
Miscontrols per 9013.0118.7

The Pride’s offense picked up where it left off last season, which makes sense considering they brought back most of their pieces from that 2024 team. They did add one significant new piece, Prisca Chilufya, and she has fit right in as a player with pace and skills who has averaged nearly 30 minutes per game coming off the bench. The team may be without Julie Doyle and Summer Yates for a while though, as both suffered injuries during the first four matches, though the team has yet to announce the severity for either. We still have yet to see Grace Chanda on the field for the Pride, and with the Doyle and Yates’s returns still to be determined, the Pride will need Chanda or another player to provide depth minutes behind the usual starting group of Angelina, Marta, Ally Watt and Banda.


Switching over from the top half of the circle to the bottom half, the Pride’s defense has played even better defensively than the offense has offensively. The Mane Land’s Sean Rollins covered some of this in his excellent article earlier this week on the Pride’s defensive lineup configurations, but the team has given up only one goal in four games, and that goal had to go to video review before it was given. The Pride’s defense has been smothering, and if we look at the same stats we did for the Pride’s offense — but consider them in terms of what the Pride are allowing from the offenses of their opponents — we can see just how well they are playing (same notes as earlier the data source and the definitions):

Metric2025 PerformanceRank in NWSLNWSL Avg.
Goals Allowed115.1
Shots on Target % Allowed29%235%
Goal Conversion per Shot Allowed2%110%
Expected Goals (xG) Allowed4.345.3
Goals Allowed – xG Allowed-3.31-0.2
Big Chances Allowed446.8
Big Chances Conversion Rate Against25%440%

The Pride are not allowing real goals or even very many expected goals, and the credit definitely should be shared between Anna Moorhouse, with her 91.7% save percentage and her overperformance (+1.6) in the messily acronymed PSxG +/- (PSxG = post-shot expected goals, a measure of how well a ball was struck by the attacking player; Moorhouse’s positive value means that Opta, the coders, viewed that the shots taken by the opponents were taken well, but Moorhouse still saved them), and also the defensive back line, which has had Kerry Abello, Kylie Nadaher, and Emily Sams on the field for 1,064 of 1,080 possible minutes, and then a mix of Cori Dyke (222), Rafaelle (107), Oihane Hernández (30), Carson Pickett (16), Zara Chavoshi (4), and Bri Martinez (1) for the rest of the minutes.

The recent addition of Hernández is almost a champagne problem, as with so many high-level defenders, there will not be enough minutes to go around. Competition will be fierce, and iron sharpers iron, so this is a good thing, but there will inevitably be some frustrated players for the Pride’s coaching staff to manage. With some of the recent injuries in the midfield, perhaps some of these defenders may be considered as possible backups for wing attacking positions, but those injured players will eventually return, as will some of the players from the long-term injured list (we hope), and the upshot is that the Pride have an incredibly deep team with the best problem to have: more good players than available minutes.

We are only four games into the season, so it is far too early for anything other than statements about early trends, but these early trends have definitely been positive. The Pride have 12 points from a possible 12 and the stats on both offense and defense emphatically back up the the 100% record.

And that is not circular reasoning.

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Orlando Pride

The Orlando Pride Are Dominant With Any Back Line

The Pride have three shutouts in four games despite a key injury on the back line and shuffling of the back four.

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Last season, the Orlando Pride were the best defensive team in the NWSL. They flirted with the league record for fewest goals conceded before resting starters and conceding seven in the final three games. The Pride are picking up where they left off last season by consistently keeping the opposition off the scoresheet.

To say the Pride defense has been stingy this season would be an understatement. They’ve conceded one goal through four games, completing their third clean sheet Saturday night in a 1-0 win over Seattle Reign FC. The only goal came in the team’s 2-1 win over San Diego Wave FC on Mar. 29 via Chiamaka Okwuchukwa, and that required video review to overturn a foul call for it to stand.

The fact that the Pride have been so successful defensively goes back to the roster construction by Haley Carter and Seb Hines. The pair have focused on bringing in versatile players who can play multiple positions, making it easier to change tactics mid-game with making additional substitutions.

Last year, the Pride started with a back line of Kerry Abello, Kylie Nadaner (then still known as Kylie Strom), Rafaelle, and Emily Sams. However, Rafaelle tore her right quadricep while representing Brazil at the Olympics. With the starting center back out, Hines inserted rookie Cori Dyke at right back and moved Sams back to her natural center back position alongside Nadaner.

The Pride didn’t miss a beat. With the new back line, the Pride went on a streak of five consecutive clean sheets. They gave up just one goal in seven games before resting their starters in a 2-0 loss to the Portland Thorns, ending their league-record, 24-game unbeaten run.

Rafaelle was taken off the season-ending injury list prior to this season and started alongside Nadaner. As she continued to gain fitness, Hines was careful about the number of minutes she received.

“Rafa missed a lot of football last year. You can see what she brings when she’s on the field. And so getting her to 45 minutes was a goal of ours,” Hines said after her first game back on March 7. “We would have liked to keep her on the field for longer, but, you know, you’re putting a player at risk at that moment.”

The Brazilian played 45 minutes against the Washington Spirit in the Challenge Cup and 62 minutes in the regular season opener a week later. However, she was taken off at halftime in the second league game against NJ/NY Gotham FC, something Hines said was precautionary.

“It’s disappointing for Raf, because she was building good momentum, getting good minutes,” Hines said after the game. “You know, it’s just a caution. We don’t want any sort of setbacks either, so we’re not taking any risks with that.”

Despite Hines’ insistence that the substitution was a precaution, the defender has missed the last two games. For most teams, losing a veteran international center back would be damaging. But not so with the Pride. They continue on like nothing’s changed.

“The transition is seamless with bringing Cori on and Em obviously shifts back to a more natural position at center back,” he said. “Kylie shifts across, and it’s only Kerry Abello that keeps her position.”

That back line, which was so successful last year, became the starting defense in the following two games. They conceded the team’s lone goal in the first of those two against San Diego but got back to keeping clean sheets in Seattle Saturday night.

The Pride set records left and right in 2024 and are already off to the same thing this year. They’ve scored 11 goals so far, one more than the second-place Kansas City Current. Combined with the one goal conceded — tied with the Current — the Pride are the first team in NWSL history to have a +10 goal difference after four games.

According to Hines, the defensive success of this team is support. They back each other up when mistakes are made, keeping the opposition from taking advantage.

“I thought Ky and Em were seamless back there and then Anna (Moorhouse) comes up with a massive save. And It could’ve really changed the game,” Hines said after Saturday night’s win. “So, everyone plays a role in the defending. Sometimes when we make errors, we’ve got players who support.”

It’s unclear when Rafaelle will return, but one thing’s for certain: It doesn’t matter who starts where on the back line for the Pride. The versatility of the players means they can fill in multiple positions without missing a beat.

The team’s defensive prowess will be put to the test in the coming weeks. The Pride welcome the Spirit back to Orlando on April 19, including U.S. internationals Ashley Hatch and Trinity Rodman. The following week, they welcome an Angel City team that features the always dangerous Alyssa Thompson and Claire Emslie. It would be even more difficult since they travel to Portland the next game, but Sophia Wilson (nee Smith) is out for the year. It will still be difficult, but the Pride won’t have to contend with Wilson.

Regardless of how the Pride play defensively in those games, it’s been a stellar start to the 2025 NWSL season. The back line led the Pride to unprecedented heights in 2024 and appears to be doing the same this season. It seems there’s no limit to how good this defensive unit can be.

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