SKoPurp No. 114: Caitlin Carducci Interview and Seattle Preview

One of the quietest off-seasons in club history is over as the Orlando Pride prepare to open their 2026 NWSL season on Sunday. It's been so quiet, we've had our maximum off-season schedule time off over the last couple of months, but we hope you're still out there and ready for more SkoPurp Soccer talk.We begin this episode with some rare preseason news, as the Pride actually released some details about their final scrimmage ahead of league play. Orlando posted a 2-1 win over Fort Lauderdale United, and we even know who scored the goals! Additionally, McKinley Crone is back with Orlando after being on loan with last weekend's host team, so the Pride have plenty of goalkeepers once more.After the preseason news, we were happy to welcome Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Caitlin Carducci to the show for the first time. We talked Carducci up about the Pride's quiet off-season, the vacancy left behind by Emily Sams, the players who have impressed in camp, her approach to a large number of players who will either be out of contract or require a decision on an option year at season's end, and much more. Big thanks to the Pride's new GM for taking time out of her busy schedule to put up with our questions.Our mailbagbox is curious about which players could slip themselves into the team's top three goal scorers in 2026. 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.Finally, we looked ahead to Sunday's match against the Seattle Reign. For Seattle, it will be the club's third consecutive competitive match against Orlando, but they won't see the Pride again until Decision Day. We discuss some of the Reign's key players, the series history, our key matchups, and our score predictions for the season opener. We're in our off-season schedule now, so we'll be back at least monthly, and as often as news requires.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 114 went down:0:15 – Pride preseason news! We have some! Just in time for the regular season.8:25 - Caitlin Carducci jumps on with us and spends about 20 minutes answering a variety of questions about the club.32:00 - Our mailbagbox is short and sweet, and then we jump into our preview of Orlando vs. Seattle.