ORLANDO, Fla. (Aug. 7, 2026) – Orlando Pride (7-10-2, 23 points) suffered a 3-1 defeat to Racing Louisville FC (5-11-2, 17 points) on Friday night at Inter.co Stadium.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Audrey McKeown headed home a corner kick from Katie O'Kane. Orlando nearly equalized in the 34th minute via Simone Jackson’s effort that struck the crossbar, but Louisville carried a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
Coming out of the halftime break, the visitors added to their lead through Emma Sears, who found the back of the net in both the 68th and 86th minutes to extend Louisville's advantage.
Checking in as a second-half substitute, Kerry Abello pulled one back for the Pride in the third minute of second-half stoppage time, firing a left-footed strike from distance into the far corner. The goal marked Abello's first of the 2026 NWSL campaign, last scoring against the Washington Spirit on Oct. 18, 2025.
Scoring Summary:
16’ Audrey McKeen (Katie O’Kane) – LOU 1, ORL 0
68’ Emma Sears (Lauren Milliet) – LOU 2, ORL 0
86’ Emma Sears – LOU 3, ORL 0
90+3’ Kerry Abello – LOU 3, ORL 1
Head Coach Seb Hines:
“First of all, I just want to thank the fans, they were terrific tonight. They were really loud, hostile, and that’s what we need every week. I apologize for the performance; they spend their hard-earned money to come out and supportus and that performance today wasn’t good enough from everyone, barring the last five to ten minutes. A team like Louisville, who are very aggressive, they like to put pressure on, and we didn’t execute the best that we could have. We were close in moments, but close right now isn’t enough to get us three points. We need to reflect. We need to be better and turn this around.”
Match Notes:
- The Pride have scored eight goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half. No team has more in the NWSL this season.
- Kerry Abello’s stoppage-time goal marked her first of the 2026 campaign.
- Julie Doyle made her fifth start of the 2026 campaign.
- Hailie Mace made her 15th start of the season.
- Head Coach Seb Hines made four changes to the starting lineup since the Club’s last match against the North Carolina Courage, with Nicole Payne, Hailie Mace, Julie Doyle and Simone Jackson entering the starting XI.
- Kylie Nadaner (maternity leave), Viviana Villacorta (knee), Hannah Anderson (lower leg), Oihane (lower leg) and Marta (concussion protocol) missed the match due to injury, while Haley McCutcheon (yellow card accumulation) and Barbra Banda (international duty) were also unavailable.
Next Match:
The Pride will now begin a two-match road trip, traveling west to take on the Portland Thorns on Saturday, Aug. 15 at Providence Park (7 p.m. ET | NWSL+).
