{"id":350205,"date":"2026-07-23T18:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350205\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T18:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:47:15","slug":"pride-return-home-for-friday-night-match-against-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350205\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride return home for Friday night match against Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Orlando Pride return home Friday after two 1-0 losses, this time without leading scorer Barbra Banda.<\/p>\n<p>The Pride (6-8-2, 20 points) take on the Chicago Stars (4-11-0, 12 points) at Inter&amp;Co Stadium at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s two teams\u00a0that are\u00a0looking to get back on form. We\u2019ve had two disappointing results by a one-goal deficit, so we\u2019re looking to bounce back,\u201d Orlando head coach Seb Hines said. \u201c[We\u2019re] looking to get back into our own environment, play in front of our own fans, and put on a performance that everyone\u2019s proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Orlando beat Chicago 3-0 in March, a result that snapped a four-game winless streak across all competitions. The Stars have lost two in a row, both by 2-0 scores, and will be without forward Jordyn Huitema, who tore her ACL on July 18 against Angel City and was placed on the season-ending injury list. Huitema led Chicago with four goals in 12 appearances this season.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Orlando player Jacquie Ovalle kicks at goal during the Boston Legacy FC at Orlando Pride NWSL match at Inter&amp;Co Stadium in Orlando on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Boston won the match 1-0. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)\" width=\"2493\" height=\"321\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TOS-L-PrideBostonSoccer10065_738a3b.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"15224083\" \/>Orlando forward Jacquie Ovalle (#13) has three assists in her first full NWSL season after Orlando acquired her from Tigres UANL last year. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n<p>Banda left for the Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations after scoring 12 of the team\u2019s 21 goals. No other Pride player has more than\u00a0two,\u00a0but they will need to find ways to fill the void in her absence.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves Marta and Jacquie Ovalle as Orlando\u2019s primary attacking options. Marta, now 40, is in her 10th season with the Pride since joining in 2017 but has only two goals in 10 games this season. Ovalle has three assists in her first full NWSL season after Orlando acquired her from Tigres UANL on a world-record $1.5 million fee last August.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/2026\/07\/21\/world-cup-women-next\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Missing the World Cup? Relief is on the way next summer with the Women\u2019s World Cup in Brazil<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Banda missed the second half of last season after being placed on the season-ending injury list, and the Pride still reached the playoff semifinal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou think back to last year; for half a season we were without Barbra, and players stepped up,\u201d Hines said. \u201cIt\u2019s always a case of who\u2019s going to step up in those moments and take their opportunity, and we\u2019ve shown at times we were able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Orlando sits one point out of the final playoff spot, but Denver\u00a0Summit\u00a0and Bay FC, the two teams directly behind the Pride, each have two games in hand. A win Friday would provide some cushion as the team pushes toward the postseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orlando Pride return home Friday after two 1-0 losses, this time without leading scorer Barbra Banda. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350206,"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-350205","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\/350205","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=350205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}