SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast

The Orlando Pride loved setting all those records last year so much that they decided to add some more in Friday night's 6-0 drubbing of the Chicago Stars. Orlando's six goals and six-goal win tied club marks and set new league records for setting an opponent on fire on opening day. Haley McCutcheon decided she liked being the first Pride player to score a goal in playoff games, so she bro...

Well, now we know what it's like to watch the Orlando Pride play for a trophy and somehow not win it. Let's not do that again. The Pride and Washington Spirit battled hard in the NWSL Challenge Cup, and a draw was probably the fair result, although an Orlando win would have vastly improved our moods this week. The penalty shootout was fun to watch for about two rounds, and then it wasn&#39...

Ladies and gentlemen, it's match week. The Orlando Pride last played a competitive match in November against the Washington Spirit with a trophy on the line. On Friday, the Pride will play a competitive match against the Washington Spirit with another trophy on the line. Before we discuss the Pride and Spirit tangling for the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup, we discuss the brand-spanking-new Decennial...

With the Orlando Pride's NWSL Challenge Cup match against the Washington Spirit just over a week away, it's time for us to reconvene and begin preparing for the 2025 season. We've been away for a few weeks, and the main thing we've learned is that the Pride is serious about defense. To that end, we discuss the club re-signing Emily Sams and Cori Dyke to new deals through 2017, touc...

One international forward departs and another arrives as the Orlando Pride lost a bigtime player with Adriana's transfer to the Saudi Women's Premier League. While the Brazilian attacker will be missed, the club acted quickly in snapping up Prisca Chilufya from Juarez. The Zambian forward will hopefully fit right into Seb Hines' system as the Pride look to defend their NWSL Shield and...

We're in our off-season podcast schedule, which means things can be a bit unpredictable, except that you'll get a new show at least monthly before the season starts back up. We didn't have a ton of news, but circumstances warranted an episode, because we're about to lose one of our favorite people. After we discussed Orlando's signing Monday afternoon of Wake Forest defender Zara Chavoshi, the fir...

Still basking in the glow of an NWSL Championship, we reconvene this week without a match to recap and little news to share. However, there was one development over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, as defender Carrie Lawrence announced her retirement from the game on Black Friday. We discuss what Carrie's retirement means for the Pride. After the brief Pride news portion of the show, we dive stra...

Wow. As we get ready to enjoy a holiday weekend with our loved ones, the Orlando Pride have given us so much more to be thankful for this year. The Pride went to Kansas City, withstood a furious challenge from the Washington Spirit, played their usual solid defense, and captured a 1-0 win in the 2024 NWSL Championship. If the Kansas City Current and their fans thought the Pride celebrated on their...

[ Note:  My apologies for the audio, as Dave sounded great and I did not. Unbeknownst to me, everything was running through my external laptop microphone, so I come off a bit echoey.] The Orlando Pride held steadfast at home, coming back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Kansas City Current 3-2 at Inter&Co Stadium Sunday. The victory pushed the Pride's magical season into the ultimate game — Sa...

The Orlando Pride made it two wins in a row with a 4-1 home victory over the Chicago Red Stars. More importantly, the Pride got their first-ever NWSL playoff victory in their first-ever home postseason game. Barbra Banda returned to the scoresheet in a big way, netting a brace that could have been four or five goals the way she was creating chances. Orlando had a couple of goals overturned and hit...

The Orlando Pride returned home over the weekend and returned to their winning ways with a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Reign. Although Barbra Banda still isn't scoring goals, three of her teammates did so, including Marta, who made her mark on the match despite it not being her best outing of the season. The defense is still a bit of a concern, but it did just about enough to get the job done. We...

The Orlando Pride were off for the women's international break over the weekend, but that doesn't mean there wasn't stuff for us to discuss (and if there's one thing we love to discuss, it's definitely stuff! ). Emily Sams saw her first minutes with the United States Women's National Team, and the Yanks unsurprisingly won. Barbra Banda finished 12th in the race for the Ballon d'Or, which seems low...

One road loss became two as the Pride turned in a disastrous performance against Gotham FC on Sunday. Seb Hines went back to his starters to get try to regain the team's momentum as the regular season winds down, but unfortunately, things went from bad to worse for the defense, which was substandard and reminiscent of some of the bad Orlando teams from the past. It was not the response Pride fans...

Just one game after clinching the 2024 NWSL Shield, the Orlando Pride gave some starters a much-needed rest. While lineup changes have not prevented the Pride from getting positive results throughout the season, this time it was different. There were too many new faces in the lineup and the players attached to those faces did not perform well against what had been a struggling Portland Thorns side...

The Orlando Pride have done it! The 2024 NWSL Shield belongs to Orlando after a 2-0 home win over the second-place Washington Spirit that wasn't easy. The Spirit came in with a lot of resolve, and on a rainy night with a slick field, anything could happen. Sometimes it almost did. But, in the end, Barbra Banda earned a penalty, Marta scored it, Anna Moorhouse (and others) made some huge stops, and...

The Orlando Pride returned from their road trip and found out there's no place like home. The team returned to a massive crowd and celebrated with a three-goal performance and a 3-1 win over the visiting Houston Dash, completing a sweep of the season series. Three different players scored for the Pride, and one of them wasn't Barbra Banda, but the Zambian international did pick up an assist. The w...

The Orlando Pride visited Bay FC for the first time and ended up getting a season sweep of the expansion side by identical 1-0 scorelines. The match was anything but easy and the Pride's offensive struggles continue since the restart of league play, but Barbra Banda's header was enough to get a road win, opening up a little breathing room in the shield race with five games remaining. Orlan...

The Orlando Pride didn't get the sweep of the Kansas City Current, but they at least kept the visitors from celebrating a win in Orlando. The rematch between two of the top teams in the NWSL was a tightly contested one, but it didn't quite live up to the hype. Still, the Pride managed to continue their unbeaten run and added another point and clean sheet to the growing pile. We tried to hi...

The Orlando Pride dominated statistically but got just enough offense to win on a Marta wonderstrike from outside the box in a 1-0 road win on Sunday against the Chicago Red Stars. Although the Pride kept Mallory Swanson quiet, Orlando needed a bit more sharpness in front of goal to open the game up. It never happened, but Marta's NWSL Goal of the Week helped Orlando secure three more points o...

The Orlando Pride came back from the road and there really is no place like home. After the obligatory Central Florida weather delay, the Pride went out and beat defending NWSL champion NJ/NY Gotham FC 2-0 at Inter&Co Stadium. Adriana found her scoring boots and bagged herself a brace, and the Pride kept another clean sheet. We discussed the highlights from the game, checked the result against...

The Orlando Pride returned to league play on Friday and, despite some difficulties, managed to get a second-half goal and a little bit of luck to beat the Houston Dash 1-0. The Pride established a new NWSL record for consecutive games unbeaten (18), along with a few more club single-season records. We break down the match, speak glowingly of Angelina's pass and Summer Yates' goal, check in...

The NWSL regular season is set to return and the Orlando Pride will get their internationals back. Unfortunately, that won't include the recently acquired Grace Chanda, who sustained a ruptured quadriceps tendon during the Olympics while representing Zambia and she is out for the season, postponing her Pride debut. But there is some good news. The club acquired defender Carson Pickett, who mak...

The Pride were off this weekend, but that doesn't mean there wasn't news out of the club. Orlando signed Head Coach Seb Hines to a new contract through the 2026 NWSL season with an option year for 2027. That's great news after the turnaround the club has experienced under Hines' stewardship. We discuss Hines' beginnings with the club, his rise to success, and what the deal mean...

Big shout-out to WJ Dog Treats ( wjdogtreats.com ) for sponsoring the mailbagbox segment of  SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast.  WJ Dog Treats is a small, family-run company of Orlando City fans who are committed to producing healthy, high-quality dog treats with just five ingredients, including their own home-made peanut butter. Give them a try. If you use the code SkoPurp at checkout, y...

We want to give a big shout-out to WJ Dog Treats ( wjdogtreats.com ) for sponsoring the mailbagbox segment of  SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast.  WJ Dog Treats is a small, family-run company of Orlando soccer fans who are committed to producing healthy, high-quality dog treats with just five ingredients, including their own home-made peanut butter. Give them a try. If you use the code Sk...