San Diego Wave W v Orlando Pride W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NWSL (W) · Monday, 25 May 2026. Final score 0–1 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 49% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals49%51%Under
Over 3.5 goals26%74%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts San Diego Wave W at 41%, the draw at 26% and Orlando Pride W at 33%, from expected goals of 1.46 and 1.27.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NWSL (W) has produced over 2.5 goals in 46% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. San Diego Wave W have 6 in 11 this season (2 of 5 at home), Orlando Pride W 7 in 10 (4 of 5 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 49% and 53%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 11 and 10 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 50% and 41%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 46%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 60%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 46%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 52%, from expected goals of 1.46 for San Diego Wave W and 1.27 for Orlando Pride W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 48%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 49%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
San Diego Wave W1155%27%55%
Orlando Pride W1070%30%70%

Head to head

27 Sept 25San Diego Wave W 1–2 Orlando Pride WO2.5
29 Mar 25Orlando Pride W 2–1 San Diego Wave WO2.5
8 Jun 24San Diego Wave W 1–1 Orlando Pride WU2.5
20 Apr 24Orlando Pride W 1–0 San Diego Wave WU2.5
26 Aug 23Orlando Pride W 1–2 San Diego Wave WO2.5
30 Apr 23San Diego Wave W 1–3 Orlando Pride WO2.5

More: San Diego Wave W season stats · Orlando Pride W season stats · NWSL (W) table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.