The NWSL is heading into a month-long break this week, but that did little to slow down teams over the weekend.
Games were played Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The league saw big performances from the Pride’s Barbra Banda, who helped lead the team to a 3-1 win over the Bay FC, as well as from the Thorns’ Olivia Moultrie.
Both Gotham FC and the Kansas City Current also set new league and club records this weekend. All things considered, many teams head into the break on a bit of a high. Here’s a glimpse at the good and the bad of it all.
Barbra Banda showed up for the Orlando Pride
The Orlando Pride pulled off a 3-1 win over Bay FC Friday in large part due to the extended efforts of Banda, who scored twice before suffering an injury toward the end of the match that sent her out of the game. Banda, who is essentially keeping the Pride in the playoff conversation, missed a huge portion of the 2025 season with a hip injury.
Her effort has not been lost on her teammates. “Barbs has been incredible,” defender Cori Dyke told reporters after the game. “She’s such a threat up top for us and she’s been bringing it every game, so, super proud of her. She was excellent tonight getting those two goals. Just super stoked for her.”
The team’s head coach Seb Hines also had plenty of praise for Banda. “I think we knew that when she came to the club and the league that she was a goalscorer, but I do think she’s showed different levels and different ways of scoring goals,” Hines said after the match. “She’s hungry. It’s been a long time out, missing all of the second half of the year. You can see that hunger in her performances.”
Olivia Moultrie extended her goals lead
Olivia Moultrie contributed to Portland’s 2-2 draw with the Utah Royals when she hit the match’s first goal at the 20th minute of Saturday’s game at Providence Park. The goal was Moultrie’s fifth of the season; the sixth-year midfielder leads the Thorns in goals (with five) and assists (four).
“Anytime I get to score, especially here, the energy is pretty electric,” Moultrie told reporters. “I don’t get this feeling anywhere else in anything else that I do. Genuinely, playing at Providence [Park] is my favorite that I get to do. Truly living the dream. But I hate being out.”
Both the Thorns and Royals are unbeaten in their last 10 games. That’s an especially powerful stat for Utah, who finished the 2025 season in 12th place.
Kansas City set a new record against Boston
The Kansas City Current’s 1-0 win over the Boston Legacy FC boosted the team to 23 consecutive home wins, a new NWSL record. Head coach Chris Armas attributed some of that to the team’s fans.
“It’s important to note our fans that show up again. I mention every time, because it has to be at the front of our brains that everything we do is for our fans that show up. We never take that lightly,” Armas said after the game. “It’s a win for us, which was important. It was a shutout. We want to carry momentum into the break and see our national team players go and do their thing. Real positive feelings around the club. Really important win. Another shutout on the season, and we’re going to keep this thing going.”
The team’s goal was scored by Temwa Chawinga in the 69th minute after Izzy Rodriguez grabbed hold of a loose ball and got it to Lo’eau LaBonta, who set up a shot for Croix Bethune. That one was saved by the Legacy’s Casey Murphy, but Chawinga snagged the loose ball for the point.
Gotham extended their own shutout record
Gotham’s 1-0 win over the Houston Dash Sunday was the team’s eighth shutout, the most in the entire NWSL. Gotham dominated the match, especially its first half.
Gotham FC coach Juan Carlos Amorós told reporters the win was an especially important one for the team. “I’m really proud of the team,” he said. “After the Mexico trip, it was important for us to come back here to be ourselves, and I have to give a lot of credit to the players. It was really noisy to perform out there today. And from start to finish, every single player, wherever they were playing, they gave everything. We saw who we are. We dominated every aspect of the game.”
The club now has played six consecutive unbeaten games.