{"id":384457,"date":"2026-08-29T11:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/384457\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T11:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:20:26","slug":"orlando-pride-hosts-utah-set-to-build-on-last-weeks-important-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/384457\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Pride hosts Utah, set to build on last week’s important win"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Pride<\/a> return home after a big decision by head coach Seb Hines last week helped earn an important 1-0 victory<\/a> on the road against the Washington Spirit.<\/p>\n

Orlando (8-11-2, 26 points) welcomes the Utah Royals (11-7-3, 36 points) to Inter.co Stadium on Saturday at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want some level of consistency as well with our last performance,\u201d Hines said. \u201cBringing it home in front of our own fans is going to be important to create that momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cUtah are having a good run of form as well, so we have to be aware of that. But I think the onus is on us to keep building on our last performance, our last two performances, but mostly the result that we got last week against Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hines made the decision to bench starting goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse in favor of 29-year-old Cosette Morch\u00e9. It was Morch\u00e9\u2019s first NWSL start for the Pride since joining in June of 2025, and she helped stabilize a back line that had been struggling this season. The Pride have conceded 31 goals in 21 games, already more than the 27 they allowed last season.<\/p>\n

Morch\u00e9 recorded three saves and helped the Pride earn their seventh clean sheet of the season. With the shutout, Morch\u00e9 became the first goalkeeper in club history to keep a clean sheet in her NWSL debut.<\/p>\n

Utah has scored 11 goals in its last five matches, with Mina Tanaka (eight goals and four assists) scoring three goals in her last two matches.<\/p>\n

The Pride is 4-4-3 all-time against the Royals, who are fourth in the standings and coming off a 4-2 loss to San Diego last week. Utah won its first meeting of 2026<\/a> against the Pride, 1-0, in Salt Lake City on July 18.<\/p>\n

Barbra Banda leads the Pride with 12 goals, and she had the assist on Haley McCutcheon\u2019s winner against Washington. Orlando has the firepower to score first against Utah and hold on to the lead, but they need to keep Tanaka contained.<\/p>\n

Orlando currently sits two points below the playoff line<\/a> and there are several teams still in the mix. With only nine matches remaining, the Pride have no room for error if they want to earn a third straight playoff berth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like now there\u2019s no room for mistakes anymore. We\u2019re not far from the playoffs, but we need every single game now,\u201d Orlando defender Rafaelle said. \u201cAnd we have a few games, but we like taking one game at a time. It\u2019s like the main thing for us now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After hosting Utah, Orlando takes on the Houston Dash at home in what will be a key match Sept. 6. Houston, like Orlando, is at 26 points in the standings entering this week\u2019s action.<\/p>\n

Orlando signs GK to new contract<\/p>\n

Orlando and goalkeeper Cara Martin have agreed to a new contract through the 2028 NWSL season, with a mutual option for 2029, the club announced.<\/p>\n

Martin, 22, joined the Pride ahead of the 2026 season after signing her first professional contract with the club in January following a standout collegiate career at Georgetown University.<\/p>\n

At Georgetown, Martin earned Big East Goalkeeper of the Year honors in consecutive seasons and was named a United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-American as a senior. In her final season with the Hoyas, she started all 23 matches, recorded eight shutouts and made 59 saves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orlando Pride return home after a big decision by head coach Seb Hines last week helped earn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384458,"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-384457","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\/384457","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=384457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}