Orlando Pride
2025 Orlando Pride Season In Review: Summer Yates
An injury-plagued season held the midfielder back from contributing as much as she did during the previous year.
The Orlando Pride drafted Summer Yates in the fourth round (No. 39 overall) in the 2023 NWSL Draft — the same draft that also netted the Pride Emily Sams. Yates’ rookie contract was a two-year deal, running through 2024 with an option for 2025. Her strong play during the first half of the 2024 season resulted in a contract extension on July 11, keeping her in Orlando through 2025 with a mutual option for 2026, which was picked up in October.
Let’s take a look back at the midfielder’s third season with the Pride.
Statistical Breakdown
After a 2024 season when she started more than half of the Pride’s games and was among the leaders in goal contributions, Yates struggled with injuries throughout the 2025 season and never really got going, playing only slightly more than half of the amount of minutes that she had played in 2024.
Yates came off the bench to play the final eight minutes in the NWSL Challenge Cup match against Washington in relief of Ally Watt. She did not have a goal contribution or attempt a shot, connecting on just three of her seven passes (42.9%), missing on her lone long ball attempt, and not recording a key pass. On the defensive side, she recorded one tackle. Yates drew two fouls on the opposition without committing one, and she was not booked. Unfortunately, Yates missed wide on her spot kick in the penalty shootout following the 1-1 draw, giving Washington the advantage and the Spirit went on to win the trophy on penalties.
In NWSL regular-season play, Yates appeared in 16 of Orlando’s 26 matches, starting five and playing a total of 552 minutes. Unlike in 2024, when she scored five goals, she went goalless, in league play this season, and her only goal contribution in NWSL play was an assist in the Pride’s game at Seattle, though it was a costly one, because she was injured on the play and had to be substituted off afterwards. She attempted nine shots and put five on target. Yates completed 75% of her passes with eight key passes and one successful cross. On the defensive side, she compiled 11 tackles, one interception, and five clearances. She committed six fouls and suffered 23, leading the league with an average of 3.75 fouls drawn per 90 minutes, and received two yellow cards.
The midfielder was at her best during the Concacaf W Champions Cup, starting all four games and playing 281 minutes. She led the team with four goal contributions, scoring three goals and adding one assist. She took eight shots, putting five on frame, and completed 74% of her passes. She contributed two tackles on defense, and committed four fouls while suffering five and did not sustain any bookings.
Yates was injured and did not dress for the Pride’s first playoff game and was an unused substitute during the second, so she did not play any minutes during the NWSL playoffs.
Best Game
Where is my Easy Button? Ah yes, that was easy. Yates recorded the second hat trick in club history when the Pride faced Chorrillo during the Concacaf W Champions Cup, scoring the Pride’s middle three goals in a 5-0 win. All three of Yates’ goals came from nearly the same place. After a corner kick, she corralled a loose ball near the penalty spot and put a left-footed shot into the back of the net.
She followed that by timing her run perfectly to meet Elyse Bennett’s cross at the penalty spot and put a right-footed shot into the far corner. She then finished off the hat trick by converting a penalty kick to etch her name in the record book right alongside Barbra Banda’s for the most goals in a single game by a Pride player.
The Concacaf W Champions Cup statistics are sparse, but Yates also completed 77% of her passes, including a pass to Julie Doyle that led to what I thought was a foul in the box by a Chorrillo defender, but the referee did not call it. Overall it was an outstanding performance by Yates, one of the best by any Pride player in any game this season, and as noted in the video clip above she was awarded the Superior Player of the Match by Concacaf in what I think was by far her best game of 2025.
2025 Final Grade
The Mane Land staff gave Yates a composite grade of 5.5 out of 10 for the 2025 season, a big drop from her 6.5 in 2024 and the same grade that she received for her rookie season in 2023. Injuries clearly played a big role in limiting her minutes, and when she was able to play she did not create shots (2.9 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes in 2025 vs. 4.0 in 2024) or contribute to goals (0.16 goal contributions per 90 mins in 2025, vs. 0.45 in 2024) at the same rates during NWSL games as she did last season.
2026 Outlook
Since the club and Yates have already agreed to trigger her mutual contract option, it seems likely that the Pasco, WA native will be back with the club in 2026. Yates was excellent in 2024, playing so well that I thought she would take over for Adriana after her departure during the off-season, and I think that if she can get fully healthy going into 2026, she can return to her 2024 levels of production.
Banda’s return date is still to be determined and Ally Watt is now exclusively a member of Denver Summit FC, so at the moment there are minutes available to be filled in the Pride’s attacking positions, at least in the beginning of the season. I am still a big believer in Yates’ abilities, and I think that had she been healthy she would have started instead of Julie Doyle in the playoff games. Banda’s absence was hard to overcome for the Pride’s offense, but Yates was the team’s fourth-leading scorer in 2024 and her going from 1,407 NWSL minutes in 2024 to 552 minutes in 2025 cannot be discounted as another reason for the Pride’s offensive struggles.
Yates should return back to being a player who starts some games (likely instead of Ally Lemos, but also to give Marta or Jacquie Ovalle a rest) but plays in nearly every game, and she is an offensive threat that the Pride can hopefully once again count on to deliver goal contributions.