By OkayGoal 
Photo Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images
Six days after announcing the surprising firing of head coach Seb Hines, in their first match under interim head coach Yolanda Thomas, the Orlando Pride defeated the Houston Dash 3-1. The three points keep Orlando in the playoff hunt, sitting in 11th place, five points off the last team in.
Thomas said postgame that it was an immense collective effort to get the win after Hines’ departure and expressed her pride in the performance they put on despite the difficulties.
“The togetherness was incredible, the willingness to step up to the plate and kind of do what needed to be done on all fronts, whether that was tactical or ops or media or just being a shoulder to lean on,” Thomas said. “It was truly amazing to see people come together in really difficult circumstances, and while dealing with kind of personal loss, because we were all individually affected personally, while we recognize that we have a job to do.”
The game was first delayed 90 minutes by Orlando weather, but the Pride were quickly on the front foot. Barbra Banda forced an own goal in the 14th minute and then got directly on the scoresheet with a penalty kick conversion in the 43rd minute.
The penalty was the first for Banda in a Pride uniform and marked her 14th goal of 2026, setting the single-season club record for goals in a season. The previous record was held jointly by Banda and Marta, who scored 13 in 2024 and 2017, respectively.
Haley McCutcheon put the cherry on top 18 minutes into the second half with a worldie on the counter-attack. Banda provided the assist that was popped up by McCutcheon and volleyed into the top corner.
“It feels like an honor and a privilege to get to lead them, and for them to allow me to lead them, because there were also — I pushed them to the limit, probably emotionally this week because I asked them to do a really difficult thing on a really hard week, but then also tactically push them a bit,” Thomas said of her first win as interim head coach.
