SkoPurp Soccer: An Orlando Pride PawedCast

The Orlando Pride needed to have some things go their way to get into the postseason but could only control one of those things — getting a home result against the goal-stingy Houston Dash. The Pride did their part, despite leaving it late, beating Houston 1-0 on Decision Day to put themselves in the right position. Unfortunately, results around the league went awry on multiple fronts and the 2023...

The Orlando Pride got off to a good start on Friday and things looked great. Until they didn't. The Pride imploded after taking a 2-0 lead at Racing Louisville, handing a goal back on an ill-advised penalty just before the half, then handing the hosts a transition goal for no good reason for the equalizer in the second half. But the Pride weren't finished. Late in the match, goalkeeper Ann...

The Orlando Pride stunned hosts Angel City late Monday night by smashing and grabbing three points in a 1-0 win that was far from the perfect game by the Pride. Only the final result was perfect as a sloppy and turnover prone Orlando side continually gave the ball away and invited Angel City to score. The hosts, however, were cordial enough to turn down those invitations, allowing the Pride to pul...

Sadly, the season has come to an end prematurely for one Pride midfielder. Orlando's Viviana Villacorta will miss the rest of 2023 with a torn ACL. This is the third season to end early for her due to injury and you have to feel for a young player who blossomed quite a bit this season. We discuss Villacorta's injury and what it means for the Pride. With no Pride match to recap, we touched...

The Orlando Pride have little to no margin for error in the remainder of the schedule if the team is going to achieve its goal of making the playoffs in 2023. The Pride took a big step toward that goal with a 2-1 win over the North Carolina Courage on Sunday evening. The win included the fastest goal in Pride history, a red card — for the opponents this time — and another standout performance by A...

The Orlando Pride had the weekend off, so hopefully that will kill off the bad juju that had infected them the previous two matches. Pretty much every game is a must-win situation from here on out, so we certainly hope that's the case. Without a match from this weekend to recap, we turned our attention to Seb Hines. Last year's interim coach got the full-time gig this season and although w...

The Orlando Pride went to the state of Washington, where they have never won, looking to leap over OL Reign into a playoff position. When Orlando starting goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse was sent off in the third minute, we kept watching even though we knew what the likely outcome would be. Still, we hoped and, as always, it's the hope that kills you. It's also the mistakes that kill you, and th...

Just when we were getting used to the Orlando Pride winning regular-season games, they lost one. What can we say? We're not allowed to have nice things. You can't win them all, anyway, and the Pride played quite well in most phases of the game on Friday night. The inability to finish chances was frustrating for all involved but the failure to deal with corner kicks on the defensive end was...

The Orlando Pride offense came to life with the return of Marta and Adriana from international duty, as well as the additions of Mariana Larroquette and Rafaelle. Sure, Rafaelle is a center back, but that didn't stop her from scoring her first goal in a Pride uniform on Sunday. Both the new Brazilian and Larroquette scored on their Pride debuts, needing only 19 and four minutes, respectively,...

Offense was again an issue for the Orlando Pride in the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup. Despite scoring first — and second, only to have the second one overturned — the Pride once again allowed a stoppage-time goal and had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Gotham FC last Wednesday night. Messiah Bright got things off on the right foot for Orlando but a Haley McCutcheon goal was overturned and shoddy defending...

The Orlando Pride played perhaps their best game of the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup and it still didn't matter. Orlando continues to be offensively challenged and no matter how good of a scoring chance the team creates, it never seems likely to go in the net. While broadcasters gush about how great the opposing goalkeeper is, one can't help but feel like shots are being left too close to the m...

The Orlando Pride got slaughtered on Saturday. It was not a good match and the performances were simply not good enough. Things snowballed on Orlando badly in this one and the Pride could do nothing but get crushed beneath the avalanche (also known as the North Carolina Courage, in this case). The Pride were officially eliminated from Challenge Cup contention with two matches to play in the group...

The Orlando Pride have been good at home against good teams this season but that was not the case on Sunday against NJ/NY Gotham FC. The Pride played a good opening half but still entered halftime only tied at 1-1 due to a conceded penalty. They went on to play not great throughout the second half, unless being offside is great (it's not). We walk through the game and make our selections for P...

The Orlando Pride have had some time off but that's coming to an end just as the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is getting going. We open this show with some basic thoughts about the World Cup, giving our favorites and wondering if the U.S. can pull off another title. Following that, we were joined by Orlando Pride forward Julie Doyle. The break came at a time when she was in great form, so h...

The Orlando Pride just love to play teams above the playoff line. Sure, OL Reign was missing several players, but you play the schedule as it comes, and nobody was crying when Orlando had several starters missing for the World Cup or the Olympics. The Pride welcomed the Reign to Exploria Stadium and got just their second win in the all-time series, thanks to Messiah Bright providing the game's...

The Orlando Pride broke out of their doldrums in a big way on Saturday night in the nation's capital. The Pride waltzed into Audi Field and became the first visiting team to capture all three points there in NWSL play this season. Orlando also completed a sweep of the regular-season series, handing the Spirit two of their three league losses so far in 2023. Julie Doyle pounced on the hosts ear...

The Orlando Pride brought their road struggles home, falling behind by two goals and only scoring once in an utterly unsatisfying 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Current on Saturday. Things are trending the wrong direction for the Pride in recent weeks and now they'll be without their two best playmakers as Adriana and Marta are off to play in the World Cup. We give our thoughts on a difficult mat...

The Orlando Pride are like a different team on the road and it's not a very good team. Although there have been dominant performances that didn't result in wins, the last two have been poor outings that the Pride were never in. It's maddening, but it's to be expected from a young team. We break down a difficult night for Orlando at North Carolina on Saturday and select our Player o...

Because last Wednesday's Challenge Cup match at Gotham FC was canceled (which we didn't even mention), the Orlando Pride came off consecutive shutout losses and had to host the defending champion Portland Thorns. What might seem to be a recipe for disaster was anything but that as the Pride rallied from a goal down to beat the mighty Thorns, 3-1. We talk through the game, which Dave got to...

The Orlando Pride were shut out for the second straight match when they faced the Dash in Houston on Saturday night and this time it wasn't a case of wiping the floor with the opponents except for failing to score. This time the Dash were clearly better on the night and the Pride slipped back into some of their poor habits from last year. But hey, rebuilding is a process and the mentality of t...

The Orlando Pride went from beating the league's best team to losing to the league's bottom team in just one week. That's kind of what we've got to deal with while this young team grows, but the positives were there. The Pride completely dominated play and created a ton of chances but the club continues to struggle in front of goal, and it didn't help matters that Alyssa Naeher...

The Orlando Pride have done what seven other NWSL teams failed to do — beat the Washington Spirit. The Pride's 2-1 home victory over the Spirit on Saturday night raised eyebrows all over the NWSL, but it is exactly what Seb Hines and his players expected to happen. The Pride have shown a remarkable amount of confidence over the course of the last four games — all without a loss (3-0-1) — and i...

The Orlando Pride took a brief pause from earning points in NWSL play to completely rotate the lineup and get smacked down 4-2 at Washington in the Challenge Cup one week ago. That wasn't as fun as seeing Tori (not Taylor, even though I slipped up and called her that) Hansen score a wicked cool backheel goal or Summer Yates sending Ally Watt in for a second Pride goal. Most of the moments in b...

The Orlando Pride must have enjoyed that win in San Diego, because they went and did it again on Saturday. This time the victim was winless Racing Louisville, and we're happy to break down a victory for the second week in a row. The Pride also signed forward Julie Doyle to a new contract and we discuss what that means for the club and for Doyle, and it's a bummer we won't see her on th...

losing streak to start the 2023 season, the five-game 2023 winless skid in all competitions, the five-game losing streak in league play dating back to last year, and the 11-match winless streak in all competitions (0-9-2) dating back to Aug. 20 of last season. The Orlando offense showed up and the defense conceded only once in a game for the first time in the 2023 NWSL regular season in a 3-1 road...