Barbra Banda scored in the 37th minute and the defense did the rest for the Orlando Pride, who defeated the Washington Spirit 1-0 in the NWSL championship game Saturday night in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Pride began this season on a 23-match unbeaten run, earned the top playoff seed and set the league record for points in a season with 60. Now, they have won their first league title in franchise history.
Banda, who had 13 goals in the regular season, scored her league-record fourth goal of the playoffs on an assist from Angelina. Goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse made five saves as the Pride notched another shutout — they had 13 clean sheets in the regular season.
