It was a loss, but Rafaelle earns more Orlando Pride starts anyway | OneFootball

The Washington Spirit went short-handed yet bested the Orlando Pride in the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup.

The Orlando Pride did try to win the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup. But so did the Washington Spirit. The full-time match resulted in a draw, after which the Spirit bested the Pride 4-2. The league championship rematch doesn’t count in the regular season standings.

The Pride won the one that mattered. That was the 2024 NWSL Championship against the Washington Spirit.

But the Pride players used this warmup to put returners and newcomers to a feverish test. With both squads exhibiting defenses of iron, that’s just what they got.

Returning from an injury, defender Rafaelle hit the pitch to earn regular-season starts immediately. She was one of the reasons the Pride showed such a furious defense. But the player had something additional in mind.

Rafaelle opened up scoring in the match’s 41st minute. She acted as a ball hawk for the entire contest. So when Marta hit a free kick that deflected off a Spirit defender, the Pride player intercepted and shot the ball into the right side of the net.

Orlando Pride v Washington Spirit - 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup | Dustin Markland/GettyImages

The score remained 1-0 in the Pride’s favor until the 71st minute. That was when Spirit midfielder Leicy Santos curled a seeing-eye free kick just past Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse into the right corner of the net.

A  shootout sealed the decision in favor of the Spirit. Yet no one could stop talking about Rafaelle’s showing.

The score was her first since her club debut in 2023. She had only recently exited the season-ending injury list.

Before her injury, she started in six of her nine games played. When the Houston Dash selected her 10th in the 2024 NWSL draft, she became the first Brazilian player picked in the league. The Pride selected her via Discovery in 2023.

Whether helping maintain an ironlike defense, or presenting a scoring threat, Rafaelle will continue to show Pride supporters more of the most creative play in the league during this 2025 season.