Lauren Milliet's Brace Gives Racing Louisville Their First Win of 2026, 3-2 Over Orlando Pride

Lauren Milliet had not scored a professional goal since May 2022. On a soggy Friday evening at Lynn Family Stadium, she scored two, and Racing Louisville FC finally had its first win of 2026.

Milliet's brace and a Sarah Weber header carried Louisville to a 3-2 victory over the Orlando Pride, a result that needed every ounce of Jordyn Bloomer's eight saves to survive. Barbra Banda scored twice for Orlando, the second in stoppage time, and the Pride piled up 30 shots. Louisville, winless through four matches coming in, held on anyway.

Orlando Knocks, Milliet Answers

The opening 18 minutes were all Orlando. Angelina tested Bloomer in the fifth minute, Haley McCutcheon headed wide in the eighth, Marta fired over in the 14th, and the 16th minute alone produced three Orlando attempts, one of them a McCutcheon shot that Bloomer saved. Louisville coach Bev Yanez admitted afterward that her group "came out a bit flat at the start."

Then Milliet changed the mood with one swing. In the 19th minute, she found space outside the box off a Kayla Fischer pass and smashed a right-footed shot into the top left corner. It was Louisville's first shot of the match, per the Pride, and it was a beauty.

Milliet described her thinking on the strike simply: "Honestly, I was just like, 'I'm just going to hit this as hard as I can and hope for something.'" It worked out.

Orlando kept coming. Ally Lemos and Solai Washington both forced saves from Bloomer, Banda missed narrowly in the 28th minute and again in first-half stoppage time, and Louisville spent long stretches defending. The equalizer finally arrived in the sixth minute of added time. Anna Moorhouse saved a Weber header at one end, and Orlando broke the other way. According to the Pride, the move went through Hailie Mace and Marta before Angelina lofted a pass over the Louisville back line, and Banda finished into the bottom right corner from outside the box. 1-1 at the half, and Orlando had the momentum.

Three Minutes That Won It

Except Louisville came out of the locker room like a different team. In the 47th minute, Katie O'Kane delivered a corner and Weber rose at the right side of the six-yard box to head it into the top right corner. Three minutes later, Emma Sears found Milliet in the middle of the box, and Milliet redirected the ball into the bottom left corner for her second of the night. 3-1.

"I honestly just think the standard is higher coming off of last year, just how it ended," Weber said. "We're expected to put the balls in the back of the net and give our team the best chance at winning games."

Orlando lost Marta in the 56th minute, when Summer Yates replaced her because of an injury, and coach Seb Hines made a triple change in the 63rd, bringing on Hannah Anderson, Simone Jackson and Seven Castain. The Pride kept firing. Bloomer saved a Banda header in the 62nd minute and a Castain shot in the 87th, and Louisville's defenders kept throwing bodies in front of everything else.

Banda made it nervy in the third minute of stoppage time, pouncing from very close range after Anderson's header off a corner. Yates forced Bloomer into one more save in the sixth added minute, Castain blazed over, and Julie Doyle had a header blocked as Orlando won two more corners at the death. Louisville survived.

Milliet, Weber and the Wall

Milliet, listed at right back by ESPN, took two shots and scored on both. Louisville says the opener was her third professional goal. Weber added a goal on three shots, two of them on target, and O'Kane, Fischer and Sears each picked up an assist.

But Bloomer was the reason this did not become a draw. Her eight saves came against an Orlando side that put 11 shots on target, and in front of her, Louisville made 50 clearances.

On the other side, Banda finished with eight shots, four on target and two goals. The Pride say those were her fourth and fifth goals of the season, the most in the league. Angelina picked up her first assist of the season and Anderson her first career assist with the Pride, per the club. Moorhouse also became just the 10th goalkeeper in NWSL history to reach 250 saves for one team, according to Orlando.

The Turning Point

The first five minutes of the second half. Hines put it plainly: "It really did come down to those five minutes in the second half." Orlando had dominated the first half and walked off level. Louisville responded with goals in the 47th and 50th minutes, and even a late Banda goal could not undo that burst.

"To have those two goals as quickly as we did at the start of the second half put us in a really good position to feel comfortable and confident throughout the match," Yanez said.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Orlando 30, Louisville 11.
• Shots on target: Orlando 11, Louisville 5.
• Saves: Bloomer 8, Moorhouse 2.
• Possession: Orlando 61.8 percent, Louisville 38.2.
• Clearances: Louisville 50, Orlando 25.

What It Means

Louisville moves to 1-1-3 with four points after opening the season with losses at North Carolina, Seattle and Houston and a home draw with Washington. The club says it now has 10 goals in five games and has extended its home unbeaten run against the Pride to seven matches. Next up is a trip to Washington on Wednesday, April 29, followed by a visit to Gotham.

Orlando drops to 2-2-2 with eight points, and the loss ends a four-match unbeaten run that included a 3-0 win at Chicago and a 2-1 home win over Angel City FC. The Pride host the Washington Spirit on Saturday, May 2.

Closing Take

Louisville spent most of the night being outplayed and still walked off with three points, which is soccer's version of passing the exam on a single all-nighter. Milliet's first-half rocket will be the highlight everyone replays, but the season's first win belonged just as much to a goalkeeper who refused to blink.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and additional details from RacingLouFC.com and the Orlando Pride's official site.