The Orlando Pride earned their largest home attendance in seven years as they checked another box on their road to an undefeated season, drubbing the Houston Dash in a 3-1 victory on Saturday.
There was a certain sliding-doors poetry to the Dash arriving in central Florida over the weekend to play in front of 17,000 exuberant fans at Inter&Co Stadium. These were the first two expansion teams in the National Women’s Soccer League, two franchises that had seen their share of struggle over the years, and the two clubs that remained attached to their MLS counterparts.
But while the Pride struck gold with a coach and general manager who took the long view and built a juggernaut to peak when a generational superstar arrived at their doorstep, the Dash have been in one version of freefall or another from the moment they came into existence.
No version of that disaster comes close to what the team has experienced in 2024. It was finally made official on Tuesday that the Dash and head coach Fran Alonso would “mutually part ways.”
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