Orlando Pride brings Current defender for the 2026 championship run | OneFootball

The Orlando Pride strengthened their defensive corps for 2026 by acquiring a squad member from the Kansas City Current.

Despite not winning the NWSL Championship, the Kansas City Current finished the 2025 regular season on top of the league with a record of 21-3-2. The Orlando Pride seized the opportunity to acquire one of their top defenders for the home squad.

The Current’s wins nearly double the 12 tallied by the second-place Washington Spirit, who made the 2025 league final match. They lost to league champion Gotham City FC.

Defender Hailie Mace leaves the Current squad, where she’s played since their first season in 2021. In her first full season, she made the NWSL Best XI Second Team. She then won her three Best XI of the Month selections.

Nov 2, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Current defender Hailie Mace (4) defends San Diego Wave forward Dudinha (88) during the second half of the match at CPKC Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kylie Graham-Imagn Images | Kylie Graham-Imagn Images

In the regular season, she tallied 97 appearances, 79 starts, and 7,000 minutes with the Current. She scored five goals and posted 11 assists. The latter ties a club record. She’s maintained over 1,500 minutes every season from 2022-2025.

What she brings to the Orlando Pride is her leadership. She anchored a Current back line that set NWSL records in the 2025 regular season. They topped the league with 16 shutouts, consecutive shutout minutes with 869, and nine consecutive clean sheets.

They finished by winning their first-ever NWSL Shield.

She’s also made nine starts for the US Women’s National Team, where she earned her first start helping the squad defeat Mexico in the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship.

The Orlando Pride means to reestablish the team a championship-caliber squad. So it makes perfect sense that they look for additional strength in Hailie Mace. She comes from the Current squad that finished the regular season on top.

But Mace was originally drafted by Sky Blue FC. Today, that team is known as NJ/NY Gotham FC, the winner of the NWSL Championship

Hailie Mace brings energy, leadership, and accomplishment to the Orlando Pride back line. The 2026 season championship is next.