The reigning champion Orlando Pride opened the National Women’s Soccer League season Friday night with a 6-0 home rout of the Chicago Stars.
Barbra Banda scored twice for the Pride, who tied the club record for most goals in a match.
In the other match on the league’s opening night, the Washington Spirit held off the Houston Dash 2-1.
It took just seven minutes for Haley McCutcheon to open scoring for the Pride, with a left-footed shot that got past Stars keeper Alyssa Naeher. In the 36th minute, Ally Watt doubled the lead with a glancing near-post header from Marta’s corner kick.
The Fire’s Hannah Anderson had an own goal 90 seconds after the restart before Pride substitute Julia Doyle coolly finished from the center of the box in the 65th to make it 4-0.
Banda, the Pride’s top scorer in 2024 with 17 goals, scored in the 80th and 87th minutes. Her second was the goal of the night: She ripped a shot from 25 yards out that went up and over Naeher.
The only sour note was Doyle departing with an injury in the 74th minute, just 11 minutes after she had entered the match.
It was the largest margin of defeat in Stars history and just the second time the team has conceded six goals in one match. The Fire were without standout striker Mallory Swanson, out for personal reasons. But defender Sam Staab made her return from a ruptured Achilles that had kept her sidelined since July.
Before the match, the Florida club honored last year’s Shield- and championship-winning team by hanging two banners at Inter&Co Stadium.
