The Orlando Pride will kick off the 2023 regular season away from home, as they will travel out to Oregon to take on the Portland Thorns on March 26.

The Pride started the season on the road at Providence Park in the 2016 inaugural season which Orlando lost 2-1. 2017 saw the Pride once again open the season at Portland with a loss 2-0.

Wednesday’s league announcement of the 22-game schedule will have the Pride host Angel City for their first home match on April 3.

The team in its second season will attempt to beat Orlando, a feat it has yet to do. The Pride managed a home draw with a late goal in added time by Mikayla Cluff to rescue a point. Orlando will need to be ready to face many familiar faces for this match as Sydney Leroux, Ali Riley, Claire Emslie, Jasmyne Spencer, and Dani Weatherholt make a return to the City Beautiful.

From there, Orlando will have a two-game league homestand, one of two such occurrences on the schedule. The other is the entire month of August, which the Pride will play at Exploria.

The fourth edition of the NWSL Challenge Cup will also be played this season, though unlike previous iterations, the Pride will play the games throughout the season. They will face off in a double round-robin format against the North Carolina Courage, Washington Spirit, and NJ/NY Gotham FC.

The Pride will end their season on October 15, as they host the Houston Dash.

This Pride will look to build on last season’s home win, and should be vital to determine part of the playoff picture. An Orlando player hasn’t scored against Houston at home since Taylor Kornieck did it back in September 2021.

Six teams will qualify for the NWSL playoffs, with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye. The quarterfinal round will be played on October 22, followed by the semifinal round, set for November 4. The NWSL Championship will be played on November 11. 

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The Pride’s full 2023 schedule can be found below.  (Challenge Cup in Italics)