Copper Queens captain Barbra Banda and her Orlando Pride team have won their first-ever National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) shield after defeating Washington Spirit 2-0 on Sunday (Monday morning, Central African Time)

The Pride, who lead the NWSL standings with 57 points, have clinched the shield with 23 games and are three games away from completing a record-unbeaten season.

Banda joined the Pride in March this year and quickly established herself, breaking various club records with 13 goals and six assists in 19 games.

She is second in the Golden Boot race, after Malawi and Kansas City Current’s Temwa Chawinga, who leads with 18 goals and 6 assists in 23 games.

Banda, who joined the Pride on a four-year contract for a club record fee of $740,000, making her the second-most expensive player in women’s football history after Bay FC’s Racheal Kundananji, has now become the first Zambian to win the NWSL shield, along with her compatriot Grace Chanda, who has yet to make her debut for the team after signing from Madrid CF due to injury.

Pride aiming to finish the regular season unbeaten

The Pride already secured qualification for the playoffs set to be played in November. They could become the first team to finish the regular season unbeaten in the competition’s 11-year history. 

The team will also aim to win the NWSL championship.

Head coach Seb Hines applauded his players following the team’s historic victory.

“A lot of praise has to go to the players and what they’ve done, they’ve been incredible. Their efforts and what they’ve put into this year, and I said to them before, it wasn’t our time last year. They were bitterly disappointed with how the season ended, and it just wasn’t meant to be….. So they took that as fuel going into this year. I can’t doubt them, and they’ve been absolutely amazing from start to finish. I’m so happy for them that they finally got the job done tonight, in front of our own.“

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