WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 25, 2026) – Orlando City SC (2-7-1, 7 points) fell 3-2 to D.C. United (3-4-3, 12 points) in its visit to Audi Field on Saturday night.
18-year-old Justin Ellis scored his first career goal in just his second MLS start, while Tyrese Spicer netted from distance as the Lions overcame an early deficit to make the score 2-1 in the 67th minute. The home side responded, however, with two goals in the final seven minutes of play to deny Orlando City any points from its trip to the nation’s capital.
The Lions will continue their four-game road stint on Wednesday night as they face the New England Revolution at Centreville Bank Stadium in the Round of 16 of the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (7:30 p.m. ET | Paramount+), before heading south to take on intrastate rivals Inter Miami CF on Saturday, May 2 (7 p.m. ET | Apple TV).
Scoring Summary:
10’ Jackson Hopkins (Keisuke Kurokawa) – DC 1, ORL 0
57’ Justin Ellis – ORL 1, DC 1
67’ Tyrese Spicer (Adrián Marín, Robin Jansson) – ORL 2, DC 1
84’ Louis Munteanu (Nikola Markovic, Jared Stroud) - ORL2, DC 2
90’ Kye Rowles (Nikola Markovic) - DC 3, ORL 2
Interim Head Coach Martín Perelman:
“Of course, disappointed with the result after the effort to come back in the game. We concede a goal in the first half, but then we dominate the first half completely. Second half, we were able to continue dominating, find the goals, we could’ve scored maybe another one, and then at the end, the big effort we did, unfortunately, we end up with nothing. This is the game, but there were some good things. [Tyrese] Spicer came back, Justin [Ellis] scored his first goal, things for us to continue to growing and thinking now of the Open Cup.”
Match Notes
- Forward Tyrese Spicer scored his first goal in 2026 MLS action and his second of the year across all competitions. The strike marked his fourth all-time across all competitions with the Lions.
- Adrián Marín provided his first assist of the year, making the pass on Spicer’s tally. The assist was the defender’s second all-time for the Lions across all competitions.
- 18-year-old homegrown forward Justin Ellis scored his first goal for Orlando City, finishing off a rebound in the 57th minute.
- Wilder Cartagena made his return to action on the night, entering the match as a second-half substitute. Cartagena had missed action since picking up a thigh injury in the Lions’ 2026 opener against Red Bull New York.
- Interim head coach Martín Perelman made no changes to the lineup from the Lions’ previous match against Charlotte FC, marking the first time this season the Lions have played consecutive games with the same starting XI.
- Defender David Brekalo (lower leg), midfielders Eduard Atuesta (shoulder) and Joran Gerbet (knee) and forwards Duncan McGuire (lower leg) and Marco Pašalić (thigh) all missed the match due to injury.
