The Orlando Pride started Friday’s game against the first-place Kansas City Current on the front foot, and at first seemed like it would be an entertaining, open game between two high-quality opponents. Unfortunately, the game faded, and once Kansas City found a goal right after the intermission, the Current bunkered in and it felt like both teams were playing underwater for much of the second half. Given the temperature and lack of air movement at field level, it may have literally felt that way to the players as well.

Barbra Banda forced a good save in the first minute and had a second shot blocked, as Orlando created a few good chances over the first 15 minutes. As has become a trend of late, the Pride were unable to capitalize, however, and the Current became more organized as the half progressed. At the same time, the Pride got sloppy playing the ball out of their own end, turning the ball over repeatedly through the first half. However, Orlando was able to defend well in the opening 45 minutes, despite setting the visitors up repeatedly. The Pride made a late surge as the end of the half approached but again could not capitalize.

Shortly after the restart for the second half, the Current made the Pride pay for their inability to convert early, with Kylie Nadaner’s poor touch turning what should have been a comfortable recovery into a 1-v-1 for Temwa Chawinga, who finished past Anna Moorhouse for the game’s only goal. With the lead, Kansas City sat back and played for counter opportunities, knowing the Pride had to press forward for an equalizer. While Orlando held a lot of the ball and sent some dangerous balls into the area, the Pride were not able to find the right final pass or get shots on frame, ultimately suffering their third loss of the season.

We hope you enjoy this album of images from a hard-fought match between two of the top teams in the NWSL.

The pregame lightning around the stadium must have struck Martín Ojeda, as he tallied Orlando City’s first hat trick since the club’s inaugural year in MLS. However, New England punished the Lions’ defensive lapses again, allowing the visitors to draw level twice for an unsatisfying draw.

Most of the first half was well controlled by the Lions, with Marco Pašalić and Alex Freeman getting the ball forward with ease. The home side could not find a finish until Ojeda finally smashed home a missile of a shot off the bottom of the crossbar in the 24th minute. Then in the 28th minute, Joran Gerbet played Ojeda through on a lovely one-touch line breaker, and he proceeded to baffle the two defenders that managed to bet back and beat the keeper for a 2-0 lead.

While the Lions were cruising at this point, apparently it went to their heads, as they allowed New England to pull their shape apart in the 38th minute to pull one back. That wasn’t enough of a wake-up call, and the Lions allowed a header from a short corner in the 45th minute to erase their lead heading into the half.

Coming out of the locker room, Orlando seemed to regain focus, mostly dominating the game for the first 30 minutes of the second half as well. One of the chances earned Gerbet a boot to the head, which after video review was finally awarded as a penalty (but mysteriously, not a yellow card). But the Lions could not close out the second half either, with a sequence of poor judgements earning yellow cards for David Brekalo and César Araujo and tiling the refereeing tolerance against Orlando. This may have played into the awarding of a penalty when Robin Jansson may have lightly clipped the heel of Ignatius Ganago at the corner of the six-yard box. The penalty stood after a lengthy review, and it was converted to re-tie the game.

Orlando woke up again and pushed forward, looking for the winner. In what is an apt occurrence for the game, the Lions even netted again in the 90th minute…off the back of an offside Duncan McGuire. (The goal was immediately and correctly disallowed.)

This game had all the emotions in it — excitement, elation, frustration, suspense, and everything in between. We hope you enjoy the pictures of a relatively well-fought match, and hopefully the Lions will figure out how to put offense and defense together soon.

The Orlando Pride generally controlled the game against a significantly weakened Washington Spirit team, but fate came down on the side of the Spirit, who managed to steal the whole result 1-0. The Pride dominated most statistical categories and Washington generated little danger, but Orlando could not finish its chances and an Anna Moorhouse gaffe provided Gift Monday with a tap-in goal. The defeat was the Pride’s first defeat of the season and their first home defeat since August of 2023.

Orlando dominated the first half, not allowing a shot at all from Washington until the 30th minute. The Pride generally got the ball into good attacking areas, but for some reason Orlando was unable to produce very many dangerous shots. Those they did produce missed the target or were blocked, so credit Washington for have a stout final defense.

As always, the second half brought adjustments and was more balanced until Ashley Hatch took a ball to the head. This broke any game rhythm as it took several minutes for the initial evaluation, but then a few minutes later Hatch needed re-evaluation and was removed from the match.

A few minutes later, Moorhouse was not attentive in receipt of a back pass from Emily Sams in the six-yard box. Monday made just a moderate press but managed to close the space. Moorhouse inexplicably turned into Monday’s press rather than allowing the play to flow to the other side of the pitch (with an open teammate ready to receive the pass), and Monday nicked the ball and touched it across the goal line.

The Pride showed their characteristic confidence after that, keeping well organized and pushing for a goal. They even managed to put the ball in the net in the 83rd minute, but the goal was overturned after video review for a foul. However, Orlando failed to produce a goal in the end, and Washington left with the win.

We hope you enjoy the photos despite the disappointing result. The Pride play next on Friday night at Inter&Co Stadium, hosting Angel City FC at 8 p.m.