The NWSL is set to announce its full regular season schedule in the next week or two but announced the home openers for all 10 teams in the league this year, officially setting the date for the Orlando Pride’s season opener.
The Pride will open their season Sunday, April 17 in Portland against the Portland Thorns, led by Christine Sinclair, Meghan Klingenberg and Tobin Heath.
The Pride will take on the Houston Dash on Saturday, April 23 at the Citrus Bowl in the team’s first home game. The Dash are affiliated with the Houston Dynamo in much the same way the Pride are affiliated with Orlando City.
The Dash include U.S. National team superstar Carli Lloyd along with Brazilian nationals Poliana and Andressa.
It should be a star-studded debut for the Pride with Alex Morgan, perhaps the most marketed women’s soccer player in the world, leading the way in purple.
The Pride are likely going to be getting use to playing the Dash and other teams. The way the schedule is made up among the 10 teams, it will be unbalanced to favor geography. The Dash are the closes team to Orlando geographically.
Now 10 teams in NWSL, but the schedule will have imbalance (everyone's favorite word), skewed toward extra regional games, per source.
— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) February 17, 2016
The Pride though are not going to complain too much. Their first season has received much fanfare already for the energy brought by the Orlando City ownership to the team along with the fans for both the Lions and the Pride. Not to mention the players Orlando acquired for its inaugural season.
There is a lot of anticipation for this team in its first season for what it can continue to do in growing soccer in Central Florida.
