ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Barbra Banda scored the go-ahead goal and the Orlando Pride defeated the Kansas City Current 3-2 on Sunday to advance to the National Women’s Soccer League championship game.
The Pride will face the Washington Spirit on Saturday for the league title at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City. The Spirit advanced to the final on a penalty shootout with a 1-1 draw against defending champions Gotham FC in the other semifinal, on Saturday.
Haley McCutcheon and the legendary Marta also scored for top-seeded Orlando, which lost just two games this season and won the NWSL Shield. The Pride didn’t lose at home all season.
The Pride advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 win last weekend over the Chicago Red Stars, which was the Pride’s first playoff victory. Banda had two goals and Marta converted a penalty.
NWSL Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga scored the lone goal in the fourth-seeded Current’s 1-0 victory over the North Carolina Courage to advance to the semifinals.
Chawinga got through a full practice for the Current on Friday, but coach Vlatko Andonovski was uncertain how much she could play on Sunday because of a lingering knee issue. Chawinga, who had 20 goals this season, started and played the entire game.
Brazilian Debinha scored for the Current in the 33rd minute on Michelle Cooper’s cross from a tight angle.
Ally Watt dribbled around a defender before bursting forward and sending the ball to a wide-open McCutcheon for the tying goal in the 41st minute. McCutcheon scored her first of the season last week in the quarterfinals.
Banda scored the go-ahead goal with a hard strike off a long pass from Kylie Strong in the 53rd. Banda, who played in the Olympics this summer for Zambia, had 13 regular-season goals.
Marta, a six-time FIFA World Player of the Year, maneuvered around a pair of defenders, then got past Kansas City goalkeeper Almuth Schult, before scoring into an empty net in the 82nd. In celebration, she gestured to her name on the back of her jersey for the crowd of 14,524 fans at Inter&Co Stadium.
Vanessa DiBernardo converted a penalty in stoppage time for the Current, which set the regular-season record for most goals with 57.
