With single-game tickets on sale today, AngelCity.com is reviewing some key home matchups you won’t want to miss. This week, we look at three of 2024’s top finishers, all of which happen to visit Angel City on weeknights. Fortunately, they also all fall in the back half of the season, giving you plenty of time to plan ahead to catch what promise to be some of the biggest games of the year.
Orlando Pride: Thursday, August 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Last season, the Orlando Pride broke out of a years-long slump to win the Shield and the championship, both firsts for the club. The team’s breakout season was the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year effort by Head Coach Seb Hines, who took over as interim midway through 2022 and was named to the permanent job ahead of 2023.
Although the team improved across the board over 2023, the marquee addition to the roster was Zambian superstar Barbra Banda, a prolific striker who led her country to their first-ever Olympic and World Cup appearances in 2021 and 2023. Banda was sensational for Orlando, scoring, assisting, and drawing a penalty in her first start against eventual runners-up Washington. She would finish the season with 17 goals in all competitions, including four in the playoffs—one of which was against Angel City.
2024 was also a return to form for Brazilian legend Marta, as Hines’s roster changes and cultural overhaul allowed her to focus on creating and scoring rather than picking up slack for teammates deeper on the field. In her eighth year with the Pride, the 38-year-old scored 11 goals in all competitions, her best year ever in the NWSL.
Unsurprisingly, the core of Orlando’s roster remains in place, including re-signing Brazilian legend Marta for another two years ahead of the season. The only starter the club lost was forward Adriana, with one of Banda’s Zambia teammates, midfielder Prisca Chilufya, taking her place. In addition, the team looks forward to the return of midfielder Grace Chanda—also a Zambia international—and former Angel City forward Simone Charley, who were both injured last year, to the active roster.
Last season, Angel City earned a 1–1 draw with Orlando on the road, one of just eight times the nearly unstoppable team dropped points. This match promises to be one of ACFC’s toughest tests, and between Banda, one of the best players in the world right now, and Marta, one of the best of all time, it will undoubtedly be a thriller.
Washington Spirit: Thursday, September 18 at 7:30 p.m.
In 2024, Washington were runners-up in both the standings and the playoffs, having bounced back from an eighth-place finish in 2023 to reclaim their status as one of the top teams in the league.
Jonatan Giráldez started as head coach following the conclusion of his final season with FC Barcelona, taking over what was already a winning team under Assistant Coach Adrián González in July. The club made a few key roster additions, starting with rookie midfielder Croix Bethune, who finished the year with a league-leading 10 assists despite injury ending her season in early September. Fellow rookie Hal Hershfelt, out of Clemson, was a key addition deep in the midfield, winning 52 tackles—the fourth-most leaguewide—in her 28 appearances.
French international forward Ouleymata Sarr has been with the Spirit since 2023, but only made seven appearances in her debut NWSL season; she had a breakout year in 2024, tying with forward Trinity Rodman for most goals on the season with eight. Rodman, a young star for the US and a fixture with Washington since 2021, had another excellent season, recording six assists on top of her eight goals.
A handful of new players, including Scottish national team goalkeeper Sandy MacIver and Japanese international Narumi Miura, who was standout defensive midfielder for North Carolina, will bolster an already strong roster.
The Spirit beat Angel City in both matches last year—all the more reason to come out and cheer the team to victory in what’s sure to be an exciting late-season matchup.
Kansas City Current: Monday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Despite all the superlatives that apply to Orlando and Banda, it’s actually Kansas City that boasts both the best offensive record and the Golden Boot winner from 2024, Temwa Chawinga.
Chawinga, a Malawian international who signed with the club ahead of 2024, notched 21 of the team’s eye-popping 57 goals, also adding six assists. The goalscoring duties were otherwise distributed widely across the team, with 16 players scoring at least one; veteran midfielders Lo’eau LaBonta and Vanessa DiBernardo trailed Chawinga most closely, with six each.
Led by Head Coach Vlatko Andonovski—who won two championships with FC Kansas City, the city’s original NWSL team, before his stint with the US Women’s National Team—the Current finished fourth in the regular season and were eliminated in the playoff semifinals by Orlando. Their league-leading offense was paired with a middling defense, which conceded 31 goals on the season, including nine games where they allowed two or more.
Perhaps as a result of their mediocre defensive record, the team released two goalkeepers, AD Franch and Almuth Schult, adding three—rookie Claire Gagne, former Seattle backup Laurel Ivory, and Brazil international Lorena—in their place. The club also notably added midfielder Rocky Rodríguez in a trade with Angel City.
Although Kansas City got the best of ACFC in both matches last season, LA scored three goals across the two games; in fact, Angel City has never failed to score against the Current, earning a 3–2–1 (W–L–D) all-time record against the midwestern side. In short, if 2024 is any indication, this is likely to be a higher-scoring affair, making it the perfect excuse to spend a Monday night at BMO.
Single-match tickets are on sale now! Discounted group tickets for 10 or more, mini-plans with savings on multiple matches of your choice, and 2025 season tickets are also available.
