SkoPurp No. 115: Reign Rewind and Denver Preview

The Orlando Pride kicked off their 2026 season with a solid performance but a poor result. The 2-1 home loss to the Seattle Reign was a bitter one, as a costly call denied Orlando a first-half equalizer, while a late breakdown on a recycled set piece handed all of the points to the visitors. Barbra Banda looked good in her return from injury, scoring Orlando's only goal, although she could have had a few more on another night. Her teammates were even more wasteful as the Pride generated 23 shots but missed the net on many of their best opportunities.We break down the loss, check on our score predictions to see that we both correctly picked the final score but got the winner wrong, and made our selections for Player of the Match.Our mailbagbox had questions about Seven Castain, Anna Moorhouse, and more. 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 Friday's first match ever between the Pride and the Denver Summit. A couple of friendly faces will be on the other side when the Summit arrives in Orlando, and we're looking forward to seeing whether the Pride can continue racking up scoring chances (and if they can be more clinical with them this time). We offer up our key matchups and make our predictions for the final score.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 115 went down:0:15 – The Pride played well enough to win but didn't. They did enough on the field to claim a point but didn't. Soccer is maddening.21:19 - It's mailbagbox time — now in season!30:38 - The Pride host the Denver Summit Friday in the first meeting between the clubs. We preview it.