The Orlando Pride poured on the shots against the Seattle Reign but could only put one away in a 2-1 season-opening loss in front of a crowd of 16,320 fans. The Reign (1-0-0, 3 points) took an early lead through Jess Fishlock and held a 1-0 advantage at the break. A second half delayed by roughly two and a half hours due to lightning saw Barbra Banda tie the match for Orlando (0-1-0, 0 points), but a late Brittany Ratcliffe goal off a recycled corner kick spoiled opening day for the Pride.
Orlando dominated most of the match, but a poor refereeing decision cost the hosts an equalizer before halftime and a slew of late substitutions undid the chemistry of a cohesive starting unit that was creating chances. Unfortuntaely for the Pride, they wasted many of those by firing off target or at the goalkeeper.
Head Coach Seb Hines’ first lineup of 2026 consisted of Anna Moorhouse in goal behind a back line of Cori Dyke, Rafaelle, Hailie Mace, and Oihane. The defensive midfield consisted of Haley McCutcheon and Ally Lemos behind an attacking midfield line of Seven Castain, Summer Yates, and Jacquie Ovalle, with Banda up front.
The match got off to a shaky start for Orlando’s center backs, who were too slow to deal with a dynamic Seattle attack as the Reign started the game with more jump than the hosts. But the Pride quickly fought back, resulting in a shot on goal in the fifth minute that was created by a clever overlapping run by Oihane and the shot by Yates.
Banda nearly got in on a through ball but was fouled about 25 yards from Seattle’s goal by Emily Mason in the seventh, earning her a yellow card. The ensuing free kick was too close to Seattle’s goal and was easily collected by Claudia Dickey. Seattle replied with a shot high over the bar in the 10th minute by Ainsley McCammon.
The Pride put together some good buildup down the left side, ending with a cross sent in by Dyke to earn a corner in the 11th. The ball in was an easy save for Dickey, however.
An ill-advised overcommitment by Mace gifted a shot on goal by Mia Fishel that Moorhouse palmed away in the 14th minute. The Pride responded, working the ball into the Seattle half and getting a shot off in the 16th from distance by Castain that went just wide.
Orlando continued to apply pressure, resulting in a long distance shot by Dyke in the 19th that Dickey easily saved. The Pride forwards continued to try to create opportunities in the Seattle box but couldn’t manage anything clear cut. When given space, they often opted to shoot too early from distance when there were chances to work for a closer opportunity. One of those came in the 20th minute on an Ovalle shot that Dickey easily saved. Two minutes later, Castain shot right at Dickey.
Despite those chances, it was Seattle that struck first due to some poor defending in front of the 18-yard box by Mace, who made a desperate dive to win the ball but missed, leading to a goal by Fishlock in the 24th.
Both teams continued to exchange shots with some well-crafted attacks. McCutcheon got forward in the 26th for a shot, but Seattle’s Madison Curry responded in kind in the 28th and Fishlock tried to double the lead a minute later.
Orlando tried to strike back through Ovalle in the 30th and Banda and Ovalle both in the 31st. The first Ovalle attempt was wide of goal. Dickey fought off Banda’s 31st-minute effort. The rebound fell for Ovalle just outside the box but again the Mexican forward fired off target on a wasteful evening.
Seattle’s Maddie Dahlien fired in the 37th for Seattle which was blocked by Oihane.
Some gritty defensive play by Dyke, who shut down Nerilia Mondesir and won the ball, started a breakout that ended in a low cross by Ovalle, but no one was on the back post to collect it and the chance fizzled out. Orlando was able to carve out a shot in the 38th by Ovalle and another by Banda in the 39th, but the Pride were their own worst enemy and could not truly test the Seattle keeper.
The Pride thought they’d tied things up in the 42nd minute off a corner kick. Ovalle sent in a dangerous ball to the back post, where Rafaelle slammed it into the net, but referee Alex Billeter blew the whistle for a foul on Banda before the shot. Banda had stationed herself in front of the keeper, but replays clearly show it was Dickey who initiated contact by shoving the Zambian forward in the back. Because Billeter didn’t let the play finish, the video assistant referee could not review the play.
“Banda impeded the goalkeeper, which prevented her ability to fairly jump for the ball and knocked the goalkeeper off balance,” Billeter wrote in response to a pool reporter’s question.
Spending time shoving Banda likely prevented Dickey from jumping for the ball, which she seemed unlikely to reach anyway, as the Orlando striker was entitled to be positioned where she was when the play started and did not appear to move toward the goalkeeper.
“I’d love to hear the report why that goal is canceled or ruled out. It didn’t seem, looking back on the video, that our players did an awful lot wrong,” Hines said. “And yeah, I’ll be interested to hear the referee’s view on why she called it even before the ball hit the back of the net, you know, why not allow VAR? I think that’s the reason we have VAR, you know, so they can reflect and look back at it and see that there wasn’t a foul there, but to call the whistle so early into it like, you know, it’s very bizarre for me.”
That was the last chance of the half and the Reign took their 1-0 lead to the break.
The first half ended with Seattle leading 1-0 but Orlando had the lead in every category, possession (52%-48%), shots (13-9), shots on target (4-4), corners (3-1), and passing accuracy (84%-76%).
“I thought we allowed Seattle to get on top, you know, in the first 15 minutes, and then we got back into the game with some really good opportunities to score,” Hines said. “And when you have great opportunities like that, you’ve got to punish the team. And we didn’t in the first half.”
“I don’t think that we came out as sharp and as energetic as we wanted to, and I think we did create a lot of opportunities, but the energy just wasn’t quite there in the first half,” Castain added.
Orlando started off the second half the same as the first, as Yates sent a 46th-minute free kick over the bar. This was followed by a Banda shot in the 48th which was eventually cleared by the Reign. Orlando recovered and won a corner. The entry ball fell to Oihane, who fired high, wasting the chance.
Seattle came the other way after the restart, but the attack was shut down by the Orlando defense and a foul by Fishlock on Mace, earning the Seattle goal scorer a yellow card.
Orlando finally found the net in the 51st minute through some excellent buildup involving. Rafaelle and McCutcheon and an excellent strike by Banda to make it 1-1. Rafaelle came forward and found McCutcheon on the left. The captain quickly sent Banda down the left channel and the Zambian international blasted her shot past Dickey into the bottom right corner to tie the game.
“Scoring on the first game (back from last year’s injury), I think that gives me a go-ahead into the next game,” Banda said.
Orlando earned a corner shortly after which was taken in the 55th, resulting in a well struck Oihane grounder just wide of the net. Then Banda’s patented holdup and breakout move led to a solo run. Surrounded by three Seattle players, she still managed a shot that was just inches wide of the left post with the goalkeeper caught frozen and flat footed.
The Pride continued to press and carved out another attempt on goal in the 63rd minute that was weak and easily saved by Dickey. A scary moment for the Pride followed with Banda down in the box for a short period of time, but she was able to continue.
Rafaelle was subbed of in the 66th minute for Hannah Anderson, who made her Pride debut. For a time, the Reign seemed totally out of their depth and could not seem to put together much of anything other than a long-range attempt in the 72nd minute by Dahlien that went well over the crossbar.
Orlando then fashioned a nice breakaway in the 76th, with Banda sending Castain in on goal, but the rookie sent the ball wide and could have done a better job testing the keeper on this one.
Hines then made a triple sub in the 76th. Luana, Solai Washington, and Reagan Raabe came in for Yates, Ovalle, and Oihane respectively.
Seattle had a weak shot in the 80th minute by Mondesir that went wide.
Orlando made its final sub of the match in the 81st with Doyle coming on for Banda. The substitutions not only took off some of Orlando’s more effective players on the night, but the replacements struggled to link passes together and Seattle regained more control of the match in the final minutes.
Seattle earned a corner in the 82nd minute against the run of play and it proved to be Orlando’s undoing. Moorhouse punched away the initial cross, which was recycled from Seattle’s right to left and sent back into the box again from the side on which the play started. Ratcliffe got her head to it over Dyke, knocking it inside the right post to restore Seattle’s lead in the 83rd minute.
Substitute Raabe managed a weak shot on goal in the 83rd that Dickey scooped up with ease. Seattle began to grow in confidence at this point and Orlando continued to struggle to string passes together to build an attack.
Orlando’s energy completely drained late, and all semblance of the clarity and purpose was gone. Passes were rushed and sent directly at Seattle players or overhit. The Pride did not even appear to be able to commit to basic game management at this point and the ref blew the final whistle, putting an end to a game from which the Pride should have taken something.
The match ended with a Seattle win 2-1 while Orlando led in all the stats, possession (50%-50%), shots (23-13), shots on target (8-5), corners (5-2), and passing accuracy (76%-73%).
“Yeah, first game of the season, and it didn’t go our way, but I think we played well as a team, and it’s a lesson for us going into the next game,” Banda said. “We know the league is very tough, so we need to pull up our stockings and hoping for the next game we need to get a maximum three points.”
“I think we created enough chances, and that time will come,” Hines said. “I thought they did well, like I said, the hardest thing is to create chances. I fully believe that, you know, after today, they’ll start hitting the back of the net.”
The Pride’s next match will be home against the expansion Denver Summit on Friday.