PHOTO BY JUSTIN GLATT VIA ORLANDO PRIDE
Orlando Pride fell 2-1 to the Utah Royals on Saturday night at Inter&Co Stadium on a rainy night in Orlando.
Orlando took the lead right before halftime when Summer Yates played a weighted ball between two defenders, finding Barbra Banda, who dribbled around the goalkeeper and calmly finished into the back of the net. The goal was Banda’s 13th of the season, tying both her single-season career best and the club’s single-season scoring record. It was Yates’ second assist of the year.
Utah answered with two second-half goals, from Cloe Lacasse in the 50th minute and Paige Cronin in the 69th, to take the lead. =
Head coach Seb Hines made one change to his starting lineup from the club’s previous match against the Washington Spirit, inserting Yates into the starting XI. Kylie Nadaner (maternity leave), Viviana Villacorta (knee), Kerry Abello (thigh), Julie Doyle (knee), Solai Washington (head), Zoe Matthews (head) and Marta (excused absence) all missed the match. Substitute Gabi Nunes made her home debut for the Pride in the second half.
“The first half, we were all right,” Hines said after the match. “We created some good opportunities and took the lead. Going into the second half, we felt we needed to put a little more pressure on the ball and not allow Utah to gain too much territory. We were half a step off, and they were able to carve us open and get that goal. I’m disappointed to sit here and say there’s another defeat at home in front of our fans. Our fans are terrific and really supportive, rain or shine. They always turn up, and we need to get the results they deserve. We need to turn it around here at home.”
Yates said the result was hard to swallow given how the first half went. “I thought it was a tough one, obviously,” she said. “We never want to lose at home. But I thought we came out and executed the game plan in the first half, and obviously, letting two goals in when we had a lead is just not what we expect at home. Not our best performance, but we’re hoping to learn from it.”
Midfielder Ally Lemos credited Utah’s quality while pointing to lapses in focus. “Utah’s a great team. They have a lot of great pieces, so for us, it’s just about staying fully switched on throughout all 90 minutes,” she said. “I think we just weren’t really ready for the energy they brought, and we need to do better. That’s on us, but the fight we brought after we got scored on was great. It’s just a tough result.”
Banda’s goal leaves her one goal shy of breaking the club’s single-season scoring record, a mark she currently shares with Marta, who set it in 2017 and Banda matched in 2024.
The Pride close out their two-game homestand against the Houston Dash on Sunday, September 6, at Inter&Co Stadium, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. on Roku.
Check out these amazing photos by our friend Jayden Blythe (Instagram).
