Barbra Banda's Late Strike Sinks North Carolina Courage as Orlando Pride Win 1-0

For 86 minutes on a rain-soaked Friday night in Orlando, the Pride and the North Carolina Courage were writing the kind of 0-0 that gets forgotten before Saturday brunch. Then Barbra Banda decided she had somewhere better to be.

Banda's right-footed finish from the left side of the box in the 87th minute gave the Orlando Pride a 1-0 win over the Courage at Inter&Co Stadium in front of 7,088 fans. Rafaelle fed her on a fast break, Banda picked out the bottom right corner, and Orlando snapped a two-game losing streak with its first win since April 3.

Puddles, Fouls and Not Much Else

The first half was a slog in every sense. Neither team put a shot on target before the break, and the closest anyone came was Banda's 39th-minute drive from outside the box that went just wide to the left. North Carolina's best looks came from set pieces: Evelyn Ijeh headed a Natalia Staude delivery wide in the 30th minute, and Uno Shiragaki nodded another Staude ball wide in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Orlando, meanwhile, spent the half collecting yellow cards like Pokémon. Summer Yates was booked in the 21st minute, then Oihane Hernández and Ally Lemos picked up cautions two minutes apart in first-half stoppage time. Rafaelle's 26th-minute header off a Lemos cross was blocked, and that was about as dangerous as the hosts looked.

The Courage Knock, Nobody Answers

North Carolina came out of halftime with real intent. Ashley Sanchez fired wide on a fast break in the 51st minute, Lauryn Thompson missed from distance two minutes later after a Manaka Matsukubo through ball, and Shinomi Koyama's shot from distance narrowly missed in the 59th. Matsukubo had her fingerprints on all three.

Pride coach Seb Hines responded with a double change in the 55th minute, sending on Seven Castain for Solai Washington and Marta for Yates. Marta made herself useful almost immediately. In the 61st minute, Banda teed her up in the center of the box and Kailen Sheridan had to make the only save either goalkeeper recorded all night.

Haley McCutcheon's left-footed effort after a corner went just wide in the 69th minute, and North Carolina threw on Ally Schlegel and Chioma Okafor in the same minute. Okafor sprung Sanchez for another fast-break chance in the 77th, and Ryan Williams fired wide from the center of the box off a Sanchez cross in the 79th.

Banda Does Banda Things

Banda finished with three shots, one on target, and that one went in. She drew four fouls, absorbed a physical night that saw play stopped three times in the second half because of an injury to her, and still had the legs to finish the decisive break. According to the Pride, the goal was her eighth of the season, which leads the NWSL, and she has now scored in three straight games with five goals in that stretch. That is not a hot streak. That is a weather system.

Rafaelle deserves her flowers too. Per the club, the assist was her second of the season, and both came in the last two games. She also had the blocked first-half header and took a late yellow card in the seventh minute of stoppage time, which is center back shorthand for doing whatever it takes.

Then there is Anna Moorhouse. North Carolina never put any of its 12 shots on target, so her night was more about organization than acrobatics, but the shutout still made history. The Pride say it was her third clean sheet of the season and the 30th regular-season shutout of her career, making her just the eighth goalkeeper in NWSL history to reach 30 regular-season clean sheets.

On the other side, Matsukubo led the Courage with four shots. The Courage also handed Thompson her first professional start, and she played 69 minutes. Ivy Younce, a former NC Courage Academy player, made her professional debut off the bench in the 85th minute.

The Counter That Flipped the Night

The decisive sequence came right after the Courage's best spell. Angelina left the field with an injury in the 84th minute, with Luana taking her place, and for a moment it felt like the Pride were holding on for a point. Instead, Rafaelle started a fast break three minutes later and Banda did the rest.

The fourth official then posted eight minutes of stoppage time, and North Carolina won two corners and kept Matsukubo shooting. Her last attempt, in the 10th minute of added time, drifted wide to the left. Ballgame.

Hines was blunt about why this one felt different. "Happy to get the result, happy to get the clean sheet," he said, per the club. "Defensively, we looked a lot more solid than we did last week."

The Numbers Behind the Grind

• Shots on target: Orlando 2, North Carolina 0. The Courage took 12 shots and never forced Moorhouse into a save.
• Possession: North Carolina had 56.2 percent of the ball and completed 347 passes to Orlando's 261.
• Crosses: The Courage swung in 17 crosses but only four found a teammate. Orlando completed one of 11.
• Clearances and interceptions: Orlando cleared 25 balls to North Carolina's 13 and made 11 interceptions to five.
• Discipline: Orlando took four yellow cards to North Carolina's one.

Where the Pride and Courage Stand

Orlando moves to 3-2-3 with 11 points, a needed result after a 3-2 loss at Racing Louisville and a 4-2 home defeat to the Washington Spirit. The Pride say it was their fourth goal in the final 15 minutes of a match this season, and that they have now avoided defeat in their last 36 regular-season matches when scoring first. Next up is the opener of a three-game road trip at Boston Legacy FC on Tuesday.

North Carolina drops to 2-3-3 with nine points after a second straight loss, following a 2-1 home defeat to the Kansas City Current, and is winless in three. One strange footnote, per the Pride: Banda's goal was the first the Courage had conceded in a second half all season. The Courage head home to face the Chicago Stars on Saturday, May 16.

Singin' in the Rain, Banda Edition

For most of the night this looked like a remake of a rainy-day classic with all the dancing cut out. Banda supplied the only choreography that mattered. As Hines put it, "it took a moment of brilliance from Barbra [Banda], and I'm happy to see the ball hit the back of the net." When your striker leads the league and lives for the 87th minute, ugly nights still end with three points.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and club notes as reported by the Orlando Pride; additional notes from the North Carolina Courage.