LAKE MARY, Fla. — Over the past few weeks, the Orlando Pride have been hard done in their matches. After a grueling defeat in North Carolina and a loss at home to Racing Louisville, it looked like the team would finally get a result in last Sunday's trip to Providence Park against the Portland Thorns. A stoppage-time goal with just a minute left in the game denied them that reprieve. Ten games now remain in the NWSL season, and performances need to start turning into results.
This Sunday night, they head to Audi Field to face the Washington Spirit, a team sitting second in the NWSL with 37 points through 20 matches and one of the most storied recent opponents in the Pride's history.
Orlando beat the Spirit to win the 2024 NWSL Shield, then defeated them 1-0 in the 2024 NWSL Championship final a few months later. Washington then came into 2025 and won the NWSL Challenge Cup on penalties against the Pride. In the regular season, the teams traded road victories, with the Spirit taking an early-season matchup in Orlando, while the Pride won in the nation's capital in a dramatic win in the second-to-last game of the season.
"There's a lot of history between both teams over the last couple of years," Head Coach Seb Hines said at Orlando Health Training Ground at Sylvan Lake Park. "Historically, we've done alright there in the last couple of occasions we've been to Audi Field, and that should give us a lot of confidence that we can go out there and get three points."
The performance in Portland, despite the late goal, gave Hines confidence heading into the trip. It was a game that came down to fine margins, which Orlando will hope to improve on heading into the weekend.
"It's one game where you can do a lot of good things and not get the result," he said. "The reality is, we didn't get anything out of it, and that's gutting. You put everything into it, and you still come away with zero points. So we need to change that. We've got 10 games to go, some really tough games. You need to go out and prove yourself, give absolutely everything, and when you do that, a lot of the time you do get the results."
"Last week was a step in the right direction, so I think we have a lot of confidence going into the Spirit," Defender Nicole Payne added. "We keep saying that we're really close, and it's just a small margin. It's us continuing to find the endpoint and just find a way to put the ball in the back of the net, find a way to win, and find a way to keep balls out of the net as well."
Kickoff at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. is set for Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
