![\"Orlando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TOS-L-pride-bay-fc43_41d805.jpg\")
Orlando Pride Jacqueline Ovalle (13) passes the ball against Bay FC on Sept. 13, 2025 in Orlando. (Orlando Sentinel file)<\/p>\nWhen Seb Hines came to Orlando in 2015, no one thought he would be where he is now. The former Orlando City defender worked his way up the coaching ladder with the Orlando Pride, and now he is widely considered one of the best coaches in the NWSL.<\/p>\n
Now entering his fourth full season as head coach of the Pride, Hines is looking for new ways to for the team to evolve. If you ask him, it all starts with the team culture he has helped establish. It allows new players to integrate quickly, and it also allows his teams to play a consistent brand of attacking, selfless soccer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important that whoever comes in, regardless of their background, whether they\u2019re young players or senior players, they have to buy into how we operate here, and I think that\u2019s been the joy for us,\u201d Hines said. \u201cIt makes coaching a bit easier when teams buy in straight away, and they\u2019ve got their teammates really pushing them to levels that they probably didn\u2019t feel they had.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mindset allows Orlando to take the game to opponents, no matter who is starting. Hines takes pride in the fact that Inter&Co Stadium has become a tough place to play for opponents, and that is something they will continue to build on in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one thing that we always want to implement with this team is that we want to be the hardest team to play against, whether we\u2019re in possession or out of possession, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Hines added. \u201cWe always want our home stadium to be a fortress and make it intimidating for the opponent, and that will never change.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Pride set out to challenge for another title in 2026, Hines is optimistic about what he has seen in the preseason. The combination of Barbra Banda, Jacquie Ovalle and Marta is exciting enough on paper, and Hines is looking forward to unleashing that attack on the rest of the league. The Pride acquired Ovalle in August last year, after Banda was lost for the rest of the season due to an injury.<\/p>\n
Orlando Pride Jacqueline Ovalle (13) passes the ball against Bay FC on Sept. 13, 2025 in Orlando. (Orlando Sentinel file)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s multiple things [to be excited about]. Obviously, the first game of the year, you always want that to come. You know, the benefit of having it at home as well is massive. I\u2019m excited to see Marta, Barbra and Ovalle on the same field. We haven\u2019t had that yet, so I\u2019m excited to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about what to expect this season, Hines talked about the next stage of this team\u2019s evolution. What started as a strong defensive core in 2024 has slowly evolved into an aggressive attacking side. Now the Pride need to combine the two and take control of games.<\/p>\n
![\"Orlando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/barbrabanda3goals.jpg\")
Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda (22) controls the ball against the Chicago Stars on March 14, 2025 in Orlando. (AP Photo\/Phelan M. Ebenhack)<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2024 we were very much a very tough team to play against defensively, didn\u2019t concede many goals, and that was really the foundation to our success. This past year in \u201925, we were more of a possession-based team, especially with the absence of Barbra. We had to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to really dictate play a lot more, and when we can combine the two styles of play together, I think we could be really dangerous going into this year. So I\u2019m excited for that. I\u2019m excited to see what teams do and how they cope with that, and for ourselves as well. We\u2019ve been showing it all through preseason. Can we now implement it when the stakes are high?\u201d<\/p>\n
Orlando will get a chance to answer that question when it kicks off the season against the Seattle Reign at home on Sunday. The Pride eliminated the Reign from the playoffs in a 2-0 victory last season, but this will be a tough match to open the new campaign. Hines knows his team needs to show grit and togetherness if they want to start the season off strong, and he is ready to show the league just how hungry they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be better than what we were last year. We want to be better than what we were two years ago as well. And so we\u2019re always going to be competing. I think that\u2019s the competitive spirit within this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we also want to be entertaining. I think it\u2019s important that we tick that box. If we\u2019re not entertaining and we\u2019re not looking to score goals, you lose interest. And I think whoever comes to watch an Orlando Pride game, we want to tick all three of those boxes. So I think that\u2019s what fans, supporters, or even neutrals can expect from this team moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Orlando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tos-l-pridereign029.jpg\")
Orlando Pride forward Marta (10) controls the ball against Seattle Reign FC on Nov. 2, 2025 in Orlando. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Seb Hines came to Orlando in 2015, no one thought he would be where he is now.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,1335,139,141,140,3968,2062,76046,110],"class_list":["post-187247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-pride","tag-soccer","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187247","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=187247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}