The Orlando Pride will open their inaugural season April 17 in Portland against the Portland Thorns, the previous team of star striker Alex Morgan. They will open their home schedule the next week against the Houston Dash on April 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Orlando Citrus Bowl.
Those two games were announced Wednesday as the NWSL began rolling out its schedule. The rest of the schedule was released Thursday.
“This is an incredible moment we’ve all been waiting for,” said Head Coach Tom Sermanni. “A lot of work has already taken place to get where we are, and we are eager for the players’ arrival in a few weeks to start training for this once in a lifetime opportunity to start a professional women’s team from the ground up.”
The Pride will play four consecutive home games at the end of June into July. The league will take a four-week break after July ends for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and pick back up August 26 at home against the Washington Spirit.
The season will conclude Sept. 24 at home against the defending champion FC Kansas City at the Citrus Bowl.
Much like the first year for Orlando City, there is certainly excitement for the first year for the Pride. Alex Morgan, much like Kaka, has generated a ton of interest too. Star power has that effect. And, like the Lions, the Pride have tapped into and leveraged their success to build buzz and interest.
The Orlando Pride have a lot to live up to and plenty of internal expectations too. Now they know the path they have to walk to get there.
