Dash overcome by Wave in 1-0 loss
The Houston Dash traveled to southern California in desperate need of points to keep up with the pack in the race for the NWSL playoffs. It was always going to be a tall order to get points against San Diego but the task was made even harder when Michelle Alozie was shown a straight red card in the 33rd minute. Houston held firm but ultimately couldn’t overcome the player advantage that the Wave had as the home side came away 1-0 winners.
Both teams came out looking to possess the ball. It was a slow building 20 minutes to open the match until things began to open up. Maria Sanchez played a ball into the box with her left foot that found the head of Diana Ordonez but the Dash striker couldn’t make good contact and saw her shot float wide of the goal.
San Diego began to find their footing and had some good looks on Jane Campbell’s goal. A Caprice Dydasco giveaway in the 26th minute fell to Alex Morgan who played in Jaedyn Shaw. Campbell came off her line well to snuff out the shot and keep the game tied 0-0. Just three minutes later, Morgan rose to get a header on frame but Campbell got vertical to palm the shot away.
The biggest flash point of the game came in the 33rd minute. Alozie couldn’t control a throw in from Caprice Dydasco and Rachel Hill took the ball away. Alozie brought Hill down near midfield with open field ahead of her. The referee judged it to be denial of a goal scoring opportunity and ALozie was shown the straight red. Katie Lind looked to be tracking back in the middle of the field but after a long review, VAR confirmed the call and the Dash were down to 10 players for the remainder of the game.
San Diego took advantage of the player advantage as they stormed forward in the attack in the second half. Morgan hit the crossbar and then the post with back to back shots in the 56th and 57th minute. Seconds later, the Dash were caught in possession and Shaw got into the box to round Campbell and slot into the empty net to put the home side up 1-0.
Campbell and the Dash defense kept the game from getting out of hand. Dydasco denied Shaw a brace with a goal-line clearance in the 62nd minute. Courtney Petersen, who came into the match after Alozie was dimissed also cleared a header off the line in the 68th minute. Campbell made multiple huge saves throughout the second half to keep the Dash with a chance of getting a result. The Dash goalkeeper now has 400 saves in her illustrious NWSL career.
The Dash just could not get anything going on offense, failing to register a shot on target. The Wave continuted pushing but when the full time whistle blew, the one goal stood up as San Diego picked up three points to go top of the table in NWSL. Houston sits in 10th place, six points behind sixth place Washington for the final playoff spot. With just four games remaining, the season looks to be slipping away.
Houston will return to the field next Friday, on the road again, against Racing Louisville. At this point, the Dash are going to need to win this game and their remaining three to give themselves a shot. It’s not looking good right now, but crazier things have happened. They’ll be without Alozie on Friday as well, giving Sam Laity’s squad even more of an uphill battle. We’ll see just what this team is made of over these final four games with their backs firmly against the wall.
