SkoPurp Soccer Episode 143: Houston Dash Rewind, Gotham FC Preview, and More

The Orlando Pride returned to league play after the international break, but they had to do so without Barbra Banda due to travel restrictions. While the lack of Banda’s attacking threat has crippled the team at times this season, Solai Washington stepped up and factored in both Pride goals in a 2-1 road win over the Houston Dash on Sunday afternoon. Washington drew a penalty that led to Luana’s spot kick goal and later scored her first professional goal. While she was clearly the Pride’s best attacker on the day (and, spoiler alert, our Player of the Match selection), she could have had three or four goals with the opportunities she created.

We look back on a dominant first half that led to a road win for Orlando, checked on our score predictions from last week, and name Washington our Player of the Match.

This week’s mailbagbox asked us about Pride goalkeeper options, Kerry Abello, Washington’s development, and more. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

Finally, we look ahead to Sunday’s afternoon home finale against NJ/NY Gotham FC. The Pride are officially playing out the string, but that doesn’t mean players aren’t trying to earn new contracts or that Yolanda Thomas doesn’t want to win one last home match for the fans in 2026. We look back at the series history, check out where the teams are at this point in the season, provide our key matchups, and try our hand once again at score predictions.

Here’s how Episode 143 went down:

0:15 – The Pride completed their season sweep of the Houston Dash.

24:48 – Our mailbagbox is full of speculative questions.

36:36 – Gotham is looking to clinch the NWSL Shield on Orlando’s grounds. The Pride must try to prevent that and try to play spoiler.