KANSAS CITY — "We just have one more game."
That's what Kylie Strom said on Friday when she was asked about how tough it is for the NWSL Shield winners to also win the NWSL Championship.
"We talked a lot about it as a team. There's a reason why it's so difficult to be a shield winner and a champion in this league. What it takes to be a shield winner, you have to be so consistent for the whole entire season. So, there's a reason why it's hard to do both. You give everything during the season, and then it's hard to keep that up consistently. I think we have it in us. We've proven that we can do it."
That mentality has resonated throughout the entire Orlando Pride team as they spent the last three days out in Kansas City preparing for Saturday's final, training, doing media availabilities and speaking at press conferences.
A number of players were asked during media day on Thursday how they're approaching the game itself. Most of them said they're trying to treat it like just another game. Ally Watt, in true Ally Watt fashion, was a bit more blunt with her thoughts.
"It's very fair to acknowledge the fact that this is the championship. I think you can't not acknowledge that, but in preparation, we're trying to just treat it like another game. That's what we've been doing all year, just another game, game by game. It's the last one, so we'll just do the same thing we've been doing. But you can't, like, not acknowledge the fact that this is the championship. This is the biggest game for most of our careers right now. The pressure's good, though, that means you care. So it's gonna be great."
Most of the last few days have been busy for the Pride. They arrived late Wednesday night, trained on Thursday morning and went right into their media day duties that afternoon. Media stations were set up for groups of players for media to speak to and ask about the game. Then, all the NWSL award winners were recognized, including Emily Sams who was announced as the Defender of the Year at the event.
Friday included more training as well as a press conference with Kylie Strom and Marta, with Head Coach Seb Hines following shortly after.
Those three are some of the longest-tenured people to remain with the Pride organization, with Kylie being here since 2021, Marta since 2017, and Seb (unofficially) since 2018. It allowed a lot of perspective during those press conferences on just how much has changed in a few short years.
"To transform from that to where we are now is incredible," Strom said. "We are sitting top of the table, but I think there still are a lot of doubters. I think there's people out there who say, maybe this was a one-off season, but we're here to prove them all wrong."
