1. After two straight losses, the Orlando Pride had their "get-right" game on Saturday night, beating the Seattle Reign 3-2 in front of 7,765 fans on Fan Appreciation night at Inter&Co Stadium.
2. With the win tonight, the Pride secured their 18th win of the season, setting the record for most ever in NWSL history. They pass the 2018 North Carolina Courage, who held that record from their 2018 season. With that win, the Pride earned three big points, which pushed the Pride to 60 on the season, also passing the 2018 Courage for most points in a regular season.
3. Adding on to that, the Pride secured an undefeated season at home in the regular season, going 10-0-3. No other team in the league has ever won 10 games at home and finished undefeated in the league's history, making Inter&Co Stadium a true fortress for the team. Now that the team heads to the playoffs with home-field advantage, Head Coach Seb Hines made a point of it, saying, "We need to see fans coming out and supporting because this is the first time in Pride history that we're hosting a playoff game, and so that's an incredible achievement, and the players fully deserve the fans coming out and helping us get the win, and hopefully going into the following week with another home game in the semifinal that will lead us to Kansas later this month."
NWSL Championship in Kansas City
Tickets are available for the NWSL Championship from CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, where the Orlando Pride will take on the Washington Spirit!
4. A big part of the win today was forward Ally Watt, who played a part in the first two goals of the game for the Pride. A spectacular ball by Summer Yates led the pacey forward in on goal to score the opener (which Watt said she "blacked out" during), while the second goal came from a deflected cross by Watt that ended up at Kerry Abello's feet. Her pace down the wing kept causing problems throughout the first half for Seattle (Watt's former team by the way), and she proceeded to help lead the team to a big three points.
5. VAMOS! Kerry Abello finally got on the scoresheet in 2024 after coming close multiple times. It's only the second goal of her NWSL career, but it came at just the right time for the Pride, who had conceded 15 minutes earlier. After the game, Kerry called it, "A very Bello goal. I'm not surprised that that's how I scored my first goal of the season, but better late than never."
6. There's really not much more you can say about Marta that hasn't already been said to this point. Her goal in the 57th minute was some vintage stuff from the 🐐 as she faked out four different defenders en route to a thunderbolt of a shot. Her ninth goal of the season was very needed for the game, giving the Pride a two-goal cushion in the second half. While it wasn't her best game overall, leave it to Marta to step up when the team needs her the most.
7. While the win was important and good for momentum heading into the playoffs, some big miscues and gaffes still led to the two goals scored by Seattle. Hines said after the game that his biggest issue with the goals was that they were errors that they could control. Hines said, "We can't allow teams to get back into the game...These are things that we can control and we'll review that going into next week's game."
8. All in all, this has been the greatest regular season for the Pride in team history. For all the records broken and a regular season trophy in The Vault, everything this group accomplished on the field is nothing short of spectacular. Now, for the first time since 2017, the Pride have at least one more game yet to play, this time at home.
9. Now that the regular season is over, the Pride will wait and see who they will play in the NWSL Playoffs next Friday night at Inter&Co Stadium to open up their postseason run. Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m ET and tickets are available here.
