The Orlando Pride snapped their two-game losing streak but it was anything but easy. The Pride struggled to convert chances until Barbra Banda struck in the 87th minute, while the team had a lot of defending to do against the Courage. The Pride did fine with that, however, keeping a clean sheet and fending off North Carolina long enough to capture all three points on a rainy night in Central Florida.

Even though Dave is on vacation, he checked in from the road so we could check our score predictions and see how well we anticipated the result; discuss the key moments, plays, and players; and make our selections for the player of the match.

This week's mailbagbox asked about Temwa Chawinga, whether Banda scoring all the goals is a recipe for success, required reading that we enjoyed, and more. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We'd also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we'll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we look ahead to the team's two matches on the road this week, with both of them new venues in the NWSL. First up, the Pride visits Boston Legacy FC tonight for the first time. We know so little about the expansion side, but Boston is in good form of late, so the Pride will need to play well to get a result. Without a series history to discuss, we get into the teams' relative positions this season and offer up our key matchups and score predictions.

The Pride will head west to visit Denver Summit FC on Saturday, playing the league's other expansion team for the second time ever and the first away from home. The teams played to a draw earlier this season in Orlando, but the Pride created enough chances to win easily. They'll hope to get a better result at altitude on short rest. We visit the (brief) series history, discuss the matchup, and make our predictions.

If you'd like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we'd love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 122 went down:

0:15 – Orlando got back in the win column even though it was far from convincing. The Pride will look to build on the victory over North Carolina with two matches this week against the NWSL's newest teams.

14:10 - The mailbagbox is still a bit restless this week despite the victory.

25:53 - The Pride hit the road for two games that appear winnable on paper, but there is virtually no way those teams will play Orlando on paper.

The Orlando Pride lost their second straight game and once again a bad defensive few minutes and a lack of scorers not named Barbra Banda were largely to blame. Two goals conceded inside of the game's first six minutes and a blown sitter combined to put Orlando well behind the 8-ball, and although the Pride rallied to tie the match by halftime, Washington was the better side in the second half and took all three of the available points.

We look back at our score predictions, discuss the key moments and players, and make our selections for the player of the match.

Our mailbagbox asked about Barbra Banda, Ally Lemos taking penalties, second-leading scorers vs. backup goalkeepers, and more. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We'd also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we'll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we look ahead to the North Carolina Courage's upcoming visit to Inter&Co Stadium on Friday night. The Pride need a bounce-back game (and a few healthy bodies), but it's going to take a team effort for Orlando to beat a solid North Carolina squad. We look back at the series history, which has favored the Courage over the years, provide our key matchups, and make our final score predictions.

If you'd like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we'd love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 121 went down:

0:15 – Much like last season, a loss at Louisville has turned into a skid for the Pride.

17:38 - The mailbagbox seems upset.

33:26 - The Pride host North Carolina looking to get back on the right track. How about just getting healthy?

The Orlando Pride must really hate Kentucky. The club has never won there and a lot of weird things seem to happen. For example, on Friday, the Pride went to Louisville, dominated at least 80% of the game, fired 27 shots toward Racing's goal, and still left town with a 3-2 loss. It was a wasteful performance spent mostly shooting either right at the goalkeeper or off the target entirely, but at least Barbra Banda scored a brace to give fans a couple of moments of magic.

We break down Orlando putting the 'L' in Louisville, due largely to a terrible start to the second half, look back at our score predictions to see if we came close, and made our unanimous selections for Player of the Match.

Our mailbagbox asked about the Pride's attackers, Orlando's best and worst matchups around the league, and more. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We'd also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we'll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we look ahead to the Washington Spirit's visit to Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Trinity Rodman is the big name, but the Spirit have a lot of quality in the squad, and the Pride will have to be much better prepared and locked in for 90 minutes than they were against Racing Louisville. We look back at the series history, provide our key matchups, and make our predictions for the final score.

If you'd like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we'd love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 120 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with our breakdown of the Pride's latest loss in Louisville.

10:55 - The mailbagbox beckons from all corners of the internet.

24:52 - The Pride are set to host the Washington Spirit, so bouncing back is of utmost importance.