{"id":128258,"date":"2026-01-22T20:59:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128258\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T20:59:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:59:06","slug":"disappointed-but-encouraged-orlando-pride-aims-for-stronger-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128258\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Disappointed but encouraged:\u2019 Orlando Pride aims for stronger 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANFORD, Fla. \u2013 No two seasons are the same, and the Orlando Pride<\/a> can attest to that after falling short of a repeat as champions in 2025.<\/p>\n

The Pride kicked off an eight-week training camp<\/a> Wednesday. The season opener will be at home on Sunday, March 15. Orlando won both the NWSL Shield and Championship in 2024 but were unable to get to the finals last season. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe look back on last season and we\u2019re disappointed,\u201d midfielder Haley McCutcheon said after training Thursday. \u201cThat\u2019s crazy because we made our second consecutive playoff appearance and made it to the (semifinals) and, arguably, should\u2019ve put that game away too. While we\u2019re disappointed, we\u2019re also really encouraged, and we\u2019re going to build on what we did last year and not feel that way again.\u201d<\/p>\n

[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a> | PINIT! Share your photos<\/a>] <\/p>\n

The Pride lost to Gotham FC in the semifinals. Gotham went on to win the 2025 NWSL Championship.<\/p>\n

The goals in 2026 haven\u2019t changed, even with players like defender Emily Sams leaving the club. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve set a foundation here now where we want to be competing for championships,\u201d head coach Seb Hines said. \u201cIn order to do that, we have to get the right players in that have that same mindset and mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hines also gave an update on forward Barbara Banda, who suffered a season-ending injury last August<\/a>. He didn\u2019t give a specific timeline as to when the star player would return to the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be smart with her,\u201d Hines said. \u201cWe got to make sure we\u2019re making the right steps in order for her to perform at her highest. I know that she\u2019s hungry to get back on to the field and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NWSL regular season starts in March and ends in November.<\/p>\n

[MORE PRIDE: Caitlin Carducci announced as Orlando Pride\u2019s new general manager]<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANFORD, Fla. \u2013 No two seasons are the same, and the Orlando Pride can attest to that after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[8216,1335,139,141,140,3968,2062,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-128258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-nwsl","9":"tag-orange-county","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-orlando-pride","14":"tag-soccer","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}