The second half of the 2025 NWSL season is kicking into high gear on Saturday with first-place Kansas City Current facing second-place Orlando Pride at CPKC Stadium (4 p.m. on Paramount+ and CBS). It’s a matchup that will pit Kansas City’s calculated defense against Orlando’s relentless midfield.
The Current have a 12-point lead between them and Orlando, and while one game won’t flip the scales entirely, it’s a long-awaited meeting between two sides that have emerged as a pair of the league’s elite clubs.
In a league that’s only 13 years old, rivalries are still developing. While Kansas City and Orlando don’t have the long history or even geographical relevance to point at as reasons for rivalry lore, the two sides have the timing right. The Pride are the reigning NWSL champions and NWSL Shield winners. Kansas City have been a playoff side in two of the last three seasons (runners-up in 2022), and in 2024, Orlando eliminated the Current in the semifinal round. So sure, it’s not Batman vs. the Joker, just good old-fashioned lingering bad blood.
How to watch Kansas City vs. Orlando
- Date: Saturday, August. 16 | Time: 4 p.m. ET
- Location: CPKC Stadium — Kansas City, Mo.
- Live stream: Paramount+ | TV: CBS
- Odds: KC -125; Draw +250; ORL +340
“This is just going to be a really exciting game. Obviously, we have some sort of rivalry with Orlando, I guess in a sense, just because we’ve both won in each other’s homes so far. So I think this will be a big game. Last time they were here, they got the win, and that was really hard for us. So, I think we want to change that and come out of this game super strong,” Kansas City defender Hailie Mace told CBS Sports.
Mace has been with the club since its inaugural season and has been a backline staple since being traded there in 2021. She’s seen the growing pains and has worked with different goalkeepers since her arrival, but 2025 has a special cadence to it with Brazilian international Lorena in between the posts for Kansas City. The Current’s defense leads the league in clean sheets (eight) and is second overall in recoveries (709) and interceptions (164).
“[Lorena’s] come into the team and done a really good job. It’s amazing that she’s tall and like will come out and grab crosses, corners, aggressive off of her line. That makes us as defenders feel pretty secure, like when teams want to threaten us in behind, we know we have a goalkeeper that’s going to come off her line and come out and get the ball crosses in the box. I feel like that’s the way teams are trying to get goals against us. Early crosses, or just finding different ways to break us down, or try to break us down. So it’s really amazing to have a goalkeeper that’s comfortable and confident and coming in, securing the ball for us,” Mace said.
Lorena’s first year as the starting goalkeeper for the Current comes with evolution from other teammates as well. Defenders Kayla Sharples and Alana Cook joined the club via trades last year and were late mid-season additions in the club’s playoff push that ended in the semifinals.
This year, the defensive unit had a full offseason to build up toward 2025, but sometimes, uncontrollable circumstances force adjustments. Cook sustained a season-ending ACL injury in May, and veteran Eliabeth Ball has stepped up in her place. Outside back Izzy Rodriguez’s increased performances have aided in engineered attacks and led to a U.S. women’s national team call up this summer. They’re all just a sum of Kansas City’s defensive parts.
“I think now that we know the system, we’re able to bring that aspect into the game more, instead of always thinking like, ‘Oh, where am I supposed to be?’ We all know we’re in the right spot, so now being aggressive in those spots is helping us,” Mace said.
“We all definitely feel like we’re on the same page. Anyone can step into any of the positions, and everyone knows their role and knows exactly what needs to be done. So, it just makes our lives so much easier, knowing that everyone knows how to play the role, and we’re all pretty familiar with each other now.”
This season is slightly different for teams. Kansas City still have a lethal attacker in Temwa Chawinga, but its defensive shape has improved drastically. Orlando’s reliance on a stable midfield as provided more narrow victories across their season record. The Pride haven’t won a game by a multi-goal margin since June and have only three games where they have defeated opposition by two or more goals. Kansas City will try and capitalize on that fact and make sure the offense flows through the defense.
“We have the attacking firepower that every team probably wishes they had. But I think our team is so good defensively and so disciplined, and we have this structure that we’re very confident in, and I think that’s a big step. A big area we’ve grown in since I’ve been here,” said Mace.
“I just feel like it’s very hard for teams to break us down. And playing in a system where you feel like that, it just brings a lot of confidence to everybody. So every time we step on the pitch, we know that this team is going to work super hard defensively, and then the attacking side will come from that.”
Kansas City’s evolution from bleeding goals early last season to leading the league in clean sheets is a notable turnaround. Defenders are deliberate when on the ball. Making sure there is movement to force the opponent into uncomfortable positions or allowing attacking players to reset and be patient to return to shape “in order to attack and build,” Mace explained.
“I think that’s helped us be more successful. Keep the ball more so we don’t have to run as much, and then defensively, just like mentality in the box. Being more aggressive, being more vocal, and being more on the front foot,” she said.
As the season begins its descent into the playoff push, top teams will have targets on their backs. Kansas City, as league table leaders this year, are the group that everyone is chasing, even Orlando. The traditionally long NWSL season means most coaches and teams don’t really discuss the table and standings till a certain time. With just 10 match weeks remaining, now is the time when seasonal goals get more real.
But for Mace and Kansas City, they still have more to prove, another gear they want to hit, and they want to do exactly that against other elite teams.
“Obviously we talk about the table and the standings and the points that we have, but honestly, we’ve been talking a lot about just like getting good performances and playing well … So, I think more so than getting points, we want to build these performances and be better, so that when the playoffs do come, we’re at the top of our game and we’re playing super well. Because right now, yeah, we’re getting points, but I think the performances need to come before the points right now,” she said.
