Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride Must Overcome Club History to Make Playoff Push
There can be no postseason for the Pride unless they completely rewrite the club’s late-season history.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/OPvSD-2023.08.25-46-1.jpg)
The Orlando Pride missed a golden opportunity to jump above the playoff line on Friday. The Pride entered the match two points behind San Diego Wave FC in the standings and a win would have lifted Orlando above the California side and into a playoff position with five matches to play in the 2023 NWSL season.
Orlando played well overall against the Wave, keeping former Pride and USWNT striker Alex Morgan quiet and limiting San Diego’s chances. However, two coverage errors on corner kicks and the Pride’s lack of finishing quality in the attacking end allowed the visitors to escape Orlando with all three points.
Despite the loss, nothing much has changed for the Pride. Orlando sits just behind the sixth playoff spot, but now is chasing OL Reign — the team it will visit on Sunday. The scenario hasn’t changed, just the opponent. A Pride win will lift Orlando above the playoff line with just a few games left in the team’s 2023 campaign.
However, the Pride will not just be fighting a difficult opponent — Orlando has never won a road game against the Reign, going 0-4-3 in seven previous trips — but also their own history. The Pride’s tendency to fade badly at the end of the season has been well established. The team has cratered at the end of every season of its existence except for the lone playoff year of 2017. In fact, that season, Orlando went 6-0-3 to close the regular season before falling 4-1 away to Portland in the club’s only previous playoff appearance. That 2017 season was the only season in which Orlando won its final game of the regular season.
Here’s how Orlando’s seasons have finished since the team’s inception in the non-playoff years:
2016: 0-7-1
2018: 0-4-2
2019: 0-5-2
2020: 0-2-2 (No NWSL season; Fall Series only)
2021: 0-5-0
2022: 0-5-1
2023: ???
As you can see, the Pride have finished all but one full season on prolonged winless streaks. If you toss the lone playoff year aside as an outlier and discount the lost 2020 season in which the Pride only participated in the four-game Fall Series, with a lot of younger players seeing action, you get an average winless streak of six games to conclude each NWSL season and there are very few draws in there.
The final five Pride matches will all take place after the month of August. This has historically been the worst time of the season for Orlando in terms of results. The Pride have an all-time record of 3-20-9 in all competitions from Sept. 1 through the end of the season. Two of those three wins came in the team’s only previous playoff season of 2017, when the Pride went 2-1-2 after August concluded. The only other Pride win after August came on Sept. 11, 2021 against Racing Louisville at home.
Here is the Pride’s record each season after Aug. 31:
2016: 0-3-1
2017: 2-1-2 (the loss was in the playoffs)
2018: 0-1-0
2019: 0-4-2
2020: 0-2-2 (No NWSL season; Fall Series only)
2021: 1-5-1
2022: 0-4-1
2023: ???
An all-time record of 3-20-9 after August is beyond awful, and only having one single win from Sept. 1 through the end of the season since 2017 is dire indeed.
It won’t be easy for the Pride to turn these dubious trends around. As previously mentioned, they’ve never won a road game against the Reign.
After visiting OL Reign, Orlando will face a North Carolina Courage team that has toyed with the Pride in the last two meetings. The Courage have won the last two matchups — one regular-season game and one in the Challenge Cup — by a combined 8-0 scoreline. Those games were both on the road. The Pride managed to draw the first Challenge Cup meeting at home, 1-1 against North Carolina, but dropped points from a winning position late by allowing a 99th-minute strike by Denise O’Sullivan.
Orlando is just 4-10-1 in league play against the Courage in the all-time series, and just 1-5-0 at home against North Carolina in league play. If you include all competitions, the Pride are 4-13-5 vs. the Courage.
After the Courage match, the Pride will travel back across the continent to face Angel City on the road. The Pride are 0-1-0 in the season series after allowing Katie Johnson to score a 100th-minute game winner back on April 2. Angel City is one of the hottest teams in the league right now, going unbeaten in six (3-0-3), and the California team is just one point behind Orlando in the standings.
After Angel City, the Pride are on the road again to face Racing Louisville, which is also just one point behind Orlando. Like Angel City, Louisville is getting better at the right time, having lost just once in its last six games (2-1-3). The Pride have yet to win a road game at Louisville, going 0-2-0 in the regular season and 0-2-1 in all competitions.
Orlando closes the season against the Houston Dash. The Dash won the only previous meeting this season, 2-0 in Houston. The Pride have won only once in their last 10 meetings with Houston across all competitions, although if you want a bright side, that was at home last year. The 2023 season finale will also be in Orlando. But the Pride have only won their final game of the regular season once, and that was a much better Orlando team.
If these numbers seem to spell certain doom, it’s important to remember that this is all historical data, and past performance doesn’t always serve as a predictive tool. This year’s Orlando Pride team has a chance to rewrite club history by finishing strong and bucking the trend of collapsing down the stretch.
With the NWSL’s teams so closely locked together this season, there’s no telling what the next five games will hold in store for the Pride. They could finish the season anywhere from about second to 12th in the league. History suggests the team will finish closer to the bottom than the top, but the law of averages almost certainly has to find some equilibrium at some point.
Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride Sign Goalkeeper McKinley Crone to New Contract
The Pride have signed backup goalkeeper McKinley Crone through 2026.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/JRPRIDE130242055-scaled.jpg)
The Orlando Pride announced this afternoon that the club has signed backup goalkeeper McKinley Crone to a new contract. The deal runs through the 2026 NWSL season.
“Mac has played an important role in our goalkeeping corps, continuing to push our group each day while investing in herself both on and off the pitch,” Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director Haley Carter said in a club press release. “We are very excited for her to continue her career with us here in Orlando, where we can continue to support her development as a player. We believe she can become a competitive goalkeeper in this league, and we look forward to providing her with the resources and environment to reach her potential.”
Crone went undrafted in 2023 before joining the Pride as a non-roster invitee during preseason. The Maitland native continued with the Pride as a training player and was awarded with a National Team Replacement Player contract on June 27, 2023 when Marta and Adriana departed for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The 25-year-old signed a second National Team Replacement Player contract and was signed for the remainder of the season on Sept. 13, 2023.
Her play in training and during her call-ups earned Crone a NWSL contract for the 2024 season. She only made the team sheet once in 2023, but became the regular backup this year. Anna Moorhouse was called up to the England National Team when the NWSL went on break for the Olympics, opening a spot for Crone. She made her professional debut in a 1-1 draw with the North Carolina Courage on July 20 in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup. The young goalkeeper made five saves on six shots while conceding once and helping the Pride maintain their unbeaten record this year in all competitions.
“To be staying here in Orlando, the place I grew up, means everything to me. Being given the chance to represent this city as well as this club has been a huge honor, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to continue living out my dream,” Crone said in a club press release. “What we are building here is really special and I can’t wait to continue to be a part of it for years to come. This club and this city mean so much to me and I will do everything I can to help bring championships to the City Beautiful. Roll Pride!”
Prior to joining the Pride, Crone played collegiately at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Alabama. Her final three seasons for the Crimson Tide saw her make 66 starts, play 9,519.77 minutes, and concede 70 goals while making 229 saves. She had a goals-against average of 1.10 and saved 76.6% of the shots she faced. She finished her collegiate career with Alabama’s record for single-season wins (10), career shutouts (23), and career wins (41).
What This Means for Orlando
Crone has worked her way from a non-roster invitee last preseason to the team’s primary backup. When the club signed Finnish goalkeeper Sofia Manner during the off-season, it was expected the newcomer would be behind Moorhouse. However, Crone has been on the team sheet for every game this season, while Manner only appeared during the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup.
During the summer break tournament, Crone’s five saves topped the Pride’s goalkeeping group, which saw Crone, Manner, and Moorhouse start one game each. In addition to equaling Moorhouse with a team-best one goal conceded, she saved two penalties in the shootout, more than Moorhouse and Manner.
Crone’s role as the primary backup this season and her play in the Summer Cup makes her the obvious choice for the same role next year. For this reason, it was a matter of when and not if the Pride would attempt to sign her to a new contract. With Moorhouse and Manner already signed through the 2025 season, the Pride now have their goalkeeping corps for next year.
Orlando Pride
Finding Glory? The Orlando Pride “Just Keep Winning”
As Orlando’s NWSL rivals stumble, the Pride have shown no signs of slowing down.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/OPvNJNY-2024.09.01-72-1-scaled.jpg)
Nearly two months ago, the Orlando Pride defeated the Kansas City Current 2-1 for a gritty road win to enter the Olympic break on top of the league table and favorites for the NWSL Shield. If any fans were anxious about the Pride’s form dipping in their return to action, they should now let go of those fears.
While Orlando has continued to rack up points with stingy defense and timely goals, the other credible contenders for the shield, the Current and the Washington Spirit, have both dropped points. Now, there are just eight matches remaining in the regular season, and the Pride have a six-point lead in the table. So, to paraphrase the ever-optimistic Dory from Finding Nemo (and also from the sequel, Finding Dory), “just keep winning.”
Since returning from the break, Orlando has won at the last-place Houston Dash and against fourth-place NJ/NY Gotham FC at home. The latter match featured 12 Olympians, and could have passed for a gold medal rematch due to Gotham’s U.S.-heavy squad and Orlando’s Brazilian contingent. Both the Dash and Gotham games were ones Orlando would be disappointed not to win, but winning is never a given in a league as competitive as the NWSL. Just ask the Current, who started the season unbeaten through 15 matches and set the pace at the top of the table, only to lose three straight and drop to third. On the other end of the table, both Utah Royals FC and Seattle Reign FC are on two-match winning streaks, showing just how quickly things can change for better or worse.
Orlando, however, leads the league and is not slowing down, because the Pride have avoided the trap games and off nights that can bite most teams. It is a testament to values instilled in the squad by Head Coach Seb Hines, now the winningest coach in Pride history, that the players have remained focused and ready for each match. Following the win over Gotham, Orlando’s fifth straight, center back Kylie Strom put it simply, “at the end of the day, we have to stick to our principles, and we did exactly that.”
Strom was referring specifically to the team’s defensive performance, but around the pitch, players are staying true to the other key principles that got them here. In recent matches, defense, as well as squad depth and versatility, have set this club apart from the competition.
Defensively, the numbers speak for themselves. Orlando now has five clean sheets in its past six NWSL matches and has only conceded 12 times in 18 matches. During the previous six matches, the Pride have started seven different players in the back four positions, and that does not include Rafaelle, who has been struggling with leg injuries this season. One of the players deputizing due to injuries to Rafaelle and Bri Martinez is Cori Dyke, who despite only starting three matches to this point in her debut season, is beginning to thrive in the environment the staff and other players have created.
Dyke exemplifies how squad depth has also been key to this defensive run. Despite a couple of injuries, the Pride still have not trailed in a match since the first month of the season, nor have they conceded a goal past the 75th minute. This stat could only be achieved because the roster is ready top to bottom to do the dirty work of defending, whether the players on the pitch are regular starters, or late game specialists. Also, it never hurts to be able to bring on Orlando’s newest addition, veteran defender Carson Pickett, to help see out games.
Orlando’s depth and versatility have also shown for the attack in recent weeks. While outsiders may wrongly view the Pride offense as a one-player “Barbra Banda show” due to her team-high 12 goals, the Dash and Gotham games demonstrated how lethal Orlando can be even without a goal from Banda. Against Gotham, it was Adriana who contributed two great goals within 20 minutes to put the game out of reach right after kickoff. Despite a slower start to 2024 following her electric debut campaign, Adriana now sits on five goals for the season. This tally brings her level with Marta, who has hit her highest individual goal mark since 2019, and Summer Yates, who subbed on and scored her fifth of season, a game winner, against the Dash.
Again, Yates’ goal highlights how the Pride players continue to perform well, whether they start or come off the bench. Goals are not the only way Pride attackers have contributed from the bench either, though Julie Doyle did almost have the goal of the season on Sunday if not for the offside flag. Doyle was also critical to seeing out the win and clean sheet because she drove the ball into the opposition half and toward the corner flag repeatedly to kill time and disrupt the flow of the match. Watt performed much the same role after her introduction as well, ensuring that Gotham did not have as many chances to score towards the end of the match.
At the end of the day, these are the types of contributions that Orlando will need to keep winning and maintain their lead at the top of the table. This includes the way the defense doesn’t let the opposition breathe, no matter who is playing. It includes timely goals from the entire Pride roster and not just Banda. And, it includes players in each position remaining focused and doing what they have done to be in the position they are in today. That position is one where they finally have daylight between them and their rivals at the top.
While there are still eight matches to go, the Pride will know that if they can take care of business against the teams outside of the top four in the NWSL, such as this weekend’s against the Chicago Red Stars, the path for other teams to catch them will get much trickier.
Orlando Pride
Orlando Pride Loan Amanda Allen to Lexington SC
The Pride have sent Canadian international forward Amanda Allen on loan to USL Super League side Lexington SC.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/MarkThor-PridevChicagoRedStars-032924-OCOP1702-1-scaled.jpg)
The Orlando Pride announced today that the club has sent forward Amanda Allen on loan to USL Super League side Lexington SC. The loan is for the 2024-25 USL Super League season, which runs through May, and includes a right to recall.
“Amanda has shown her potential and maturity during her time here in Orlando and we’re happy to find an opportunity for her to get more minutes on the field,” Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director Haley Carter said in a club press release. “Amanda has played an important role so far this season and we are happy to be able to give her the opportunity to compete in Lexington. We look forward to watching her play and will continue to support her from afar during this loan spell.”
The Mississauga, Ontario, native joined the Pride on April 3, 2023 on a three-year deal running through the 2025 season. She made her debut on May 6, 2023 against Racing Louisville FC, becoming the youngest player to play for the Pride at 18 years, two months, and 15 days old.
In her two years in Orlando, Allen has made 17 appearances with two starts while recording 293 minutes with one assist in all competitions. That includes 11 NWSL regular season appearances, three Challenge Cup appearances, and three NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup appearances. Her assist came in this year’s season opener in a 2-2 draw against Racing Louisville when she found Summer Yates for the late equalizer.
Allen has spent time with the Canadian National Team and the youth squads. The 19-year-old forward is currently at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, where she started in the team’s first two group games.
What This Means for Orlando
The Pride have two primary forwards this season in Barbra Banda and Ally Watt, with the other forwards usually being left on the bench or out of the matchday squad. Even veteran and Argentina international Mariana Larroquette has found it hard to see the field. The club views Allen as part of the future of this team, but she was unlikely to see much more time this year in the regular season or postseason.
This loan gives the 19-year-old an opportunity to see first-team minutes at a high level, as the USL Super League is a first division league. The team was already heavy on forwards, resulting in the waiving of rookie Alex Kerr on Aug. 29. This move clears more space at the position while stating that Allen is part of the future of the team.
-
Orlando Pride2 weeks ago
Orlando Pride vs. Houston Dash: Final Score 1-0 as Pride Set New NWSL Unbeaten Record
-
Orlando City B2 weeks ago
Orlando City B vs. Atlanta United 2: Final Score 4-1 as Young Lions Blast Atlanta
-
Orlando City2 weeks ago
Orlando City vs. Sporting Kansas City: Player Grades and Man of the Match
-
Orlando Pride2 weeks ago
Orlando Pride Focused On More Than Records
-
Orlando Pride6 days ago
Orlando Pride vs. NJ/NY Gotham FC: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
-
Orlando City2 weeks ago
Orlando City vs. Sporting Kansas City: Five Takeaways
-
Podcasts2 weeks ago
PawedCast Episode 442: Sporting Kansas City Rewind, OCB-Atlanta, Nashville Preview, and More
-
Orlando City2 weeks ago
Orlando City vs. Sporting Kansas City: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More