Orlando Pride
2024 Orlando Pride Season in Review: Carson Pickett
The defender returned to the Pride just in time for the stretch run to a championship.
The Orlando Pride made few moves during the midseason, but the club brought back a familiar face in time for the stretch run. Former Pride defender Carson Pickett was acquired from Racing Louisville FC in exchange for $75,000 in Allocation Money on Aug. 16. Pickett, who had previously played with Orlando from 2018 through 2020, had spent two seasons with the North Carolina Courage before moving to Louisville.
Let’s look at how she performed upon her return to the Pride.
Statistical Breakdown
After the trade from Louisville, Pickett appeared in six regular-season matches, starting four, making her second Orlando debut on Sept. 1 at home against Gotham FC and logging 361 minutes. She scored one goal and added an assist down the final stretch of the regular season with the Pride, attempting six shots and putting four of them on target. She added three tackles and an interception on the defensive end. She committed six fouls while drawing one and was booked twice.
She appeared in all three of Orlando’s playoff matches — all off the bench — recording 11 total minutes. She did not have a goal contribution, recording one shot, which she put on target. She completed seven of her 10 passes (70%) in the postseason. Pickett did not record a tackle, an interception, a foul conceded or suffered, or a booking in the playoffs.
Because she arrived after the Pride’s participation in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, she did not appear with Orlando in that competition.
Best Game
Pickett’s best match came in a 3-1 home win over the Houston Dash on Sept. 28. It was one of just two matches since rejoining the Pride in which she played the full 90 minutes. Coming off her first 90-minute match on Sept. 20 at Bay FC, in which she provided the assist on Barbra Banda’s winning goal, Pickett scored one for herself against the Dash in the 29th minute to open the scoring. Cori Dyke had the ball out on the right, allowing Pickett to sneak in behind the defense on the left. Dyke’s cross was a good one, and Pickett placed her header perfectly, beating Jane Campbell into the upper right corner and bringing the team’s Inter&Co Stadium-record crowd of 17,087 to its feet.
Not only did her goal set the tone for the Pride to go on to a win, extending the team’s unbeaten run to 23 games, but it was the first time she’d scored a goal with Orlando. She nearly scored a second goal in the 63rd minute, getting to a Marta pass in behind the defense on a recycled set piece, but Campbell made a good save to push it just wide. Her third shot of the match came a few minutes later from the top of the box and may have also been on target had it not been blocked by the face of Michelle Alozie.
In addition to her goal, Pickett recorded post-trade season highs in shots (3) and shots on target (2), passing at an 82.2% success rate. Defensively, she chipped in two tackles — also a season high after the trade from Louisville — and an interception.
2024 Final Grade
The Mane Land staff would love to give Pickett a grade for the season, but she fell just shy of the 400-minute minimum threshold to earn one, playing a combined 372 minutes in the regular season and postseason. As such, she will receive an incomplete. That is not to say she wasn’t a valuable addition to the team, but it’s unfair to grade a player’s season based on such a small sample size, and it wouldn’t make sense to count her time in Louisville, as her situation and surrounding cast were completely different.
2025 Outlook
Pickett is signed through the 2025 season, so unless she or the club would like to part ways, I expect to see her in purple again next season. She can fill in at multiple spots, giving Seb Hines an additional starting-caliber left back or a late-game super sub. I’m not sure how much her health affected her drop in playing time late in the season, but after back-to-back, 90-minute outings in which she performed well, she played 70 minutes against Washington in the NWSL Shield-clinching win, 65 in the loss at Portland, and then missed the final couple of games of the regular season at Gotham and home against Seattle, before logging a total of 11 minutes in the postseason. She was listed as injured for the Gotham game, but the Seattle match saw her listed as not playing due to coach’s decision. It’s possible she was still nursing a bit of a knock but could have played if something had happened to Abello.
A good crosser from the left, Pickett can also fill a wingback or winger role on that side of the Orlando attack when needed, providing Hines with some formation flexibility. Considering Abello was an NWSL Best XI Second Team member, it might seem unrealistic to think of Pickett as a potential starter next season, however, she was a finalist for Defender of the Year in both 2021 and 2022. She had also been performing well prior to her injury and Hines had settled in on a group of starters to take him into the postseason by the time she returned. I would expect Pickett to push Abello not only for playing time, but also for a spot in the starting XI. With two players of that caliber vying for minutes, it’s a good problem for Hines and the Pride to have.