With the Orlando Pride celebrating its 10th season in the National Women's Soccer League, the team will host the Chicago Stars to kick off 2025 on Friday night. In the team's history, the Pride have had some memorable moments to start their campaign, so let's take a look back at the home openers.
2016 vs. Houston Dash: A New Era
The match that started it all. The first home match in Orlando Pride history got off to a hot start with a 3-1 win over the Houston Dash. A record crowd of 23,403 was on hand to witness, at the time, the largest crowd to attend a women's professional soccer match.
2017 vs. Washington Spirit: Bem-vinda Marta
A special day in the history of the Orlando Pride as the 2017 home opener not only marked the first match at Inter&Co Stadium for the team, but also introduced The City Beautiful to the GOAT of women's soccer: Marta, making her debut in the 59th minute. The match also marked the first goal in their new home, an 86th-minute equalizer by Danica Evans to give the Pride a 1-1 draw.
2018 vs. Welcome to the League, Utah:
The opening match to the 2018 season got off to an inauspicious start, conceding in the third minute to NWSL newcomer Utah Royals (with eventual Pride midfielder Gunny Jonsdottir being the goalscorer). The Pride would battle back for a 1-1 draw 18 minutes later after a Marta penalty tied up the match.
2019 vs. Portland Thorns: A Thorny Start
The 2019 season got off to a rough start for the Pride and new head coach Marc Skinner as the Pride dropped their home opener 2-0 to the Portland Thorns.
2021 vs. Washington Spirit: A Spirited Comeback
Following the inability to play any matches at home during 2020, Orlando's 2021 home opener against Washington was the first home match in over 19 months. After conceding late in the match, Alex Morgan was able to equalize with less than 10 minutes left to tie the match up at 1-1.
2022 vs. Gotham FC: Bats
Following the first two months of the 2022 season being played in the NWSL Challenge Cup, the Pride had their official home opener in May against Gotham FC. Unfortunately, this one went the way of the visitors, who ended up winning 3-0 on the day.
2023 vs. Angel City FC: Heartbreak
In the first official home opener under the Seb Hines era, the Pride looked to be heading to a 1-1 draw as they approached stoppage time against Angel City. After an unprecedented 10 minutes of stoppage time, the visitors were able to score the game-winning goal with one of the last kicks of the game, stealing points from the Pride in heartbreaking fashion.
2024 vs. Angel City FC: MARTAAAAA
A year later, against the same opponent as in 2023, it was the Pride's turn to score a late goal. After conceding a penalty early in the second half, it came down to the legend Marta to score an absolute banger in the 88th minute to equalize for the Pride. Ultimately, this would be the first game in an undefeated home season, leading to the first trophies in Orlando Pride history.
