Dash suffer lopsided loss in season opener
(image via North Carolina Courage)
The Houston Dash began the 2024 NWSL season with a heavy defeat, losing 5-1 on the road against the North Carolina Courage. New head coach Fran Alonso marked his debut for the team and the league after coming over from Celtic in the Scottish Women’s Premier League.
Alonso promised from the get-go that his focus is attack, attack, and attack. He set out a new system for the Dash this season, playing in a 3-4-3. He kept team MVP Jane Campbell in goal. A new backline of Courtney Petersen, Sarah Puntigam, and Natalie Jacobs offered support for the team. Most interestingly was where Andressa was positioned, deep in the midfield to be the connection from defense to the forward line. Jacobs had to be scratched from the lineup in pregame warmups and was replaced by Jyllissa Harris.
Both teams tried to find their flow in the game and both had an equal share of the ball early on. North Carolina pressed into the Dash’s box and forced a mistake by the defense. Brianna Pinto drove into the box crossed the ball. Dash midfielder Andressa came to cover the cross but slid and was caught blocking the cross with her arm, leading VAR to call a penalty. Malia Berkely stepped to the spot and tucked it into the bottom right corner in the 19th minute to give the Courage a 1-0 lead.
The Dash had a few chances in the half. Their first real chance came in the 22nd minute when Maria Sanchez crossed the ball from a corner to Sophie Schmidt, but North Carolina goalkeeper Casey Murphy cleared it off the line. Of course, Jane Campbell made another game-changing save to keep the Dash in the game. In the 44th minute, a crucial point came that could have changed the game. Courage captain Denise O’Sullivan fouled Andressa and VAR called the referee to take a look at the challenge. After multiple checks the referee gave a yellow card to O’Sullivan. The first half concluded with NC taking the lead 1-0 with both teams struggling to control the game.
The two teams came out for the second half attacking and trying to fully control the game. The first chance came to Dash midfielder Belle Briede who took a shot from a distance. Murphy made another amazing save to tip it out of play. Right after that play, the Dash lost the ball to O’Sullivan who gave it to Haley Hopkins to run past the defense. She took the shot past Campbell into the bottom left corner to give the Courage a 2-nil lead in the 54th minute.
The Dash wouldn’t go down without a fight. In the 65th minute, the Dash won a free kick in the final third. Maria Sanchez served the ball into the penalty box and it was deflected in by defender Kaleigh Kurtz to get the Dash on the board and cut the Courage lead to 2-1.
The comeback lasted briefly until North Carolina subbed in Bianca St. Georges. The Canadian immediately made a huge difference in her debut with the club. Within two minutes of subbing in, she slotted in a shot from a cross into the box that gave the Courage a 3-1 lead. A few minutes before stoppage time, she cemented the win when she took possession of the ball in the Dash 18 yard box and tucked it in at the right corner.
Up 4-1, the Courage weren’t done scoring. In the dying minutes of stoppage time, Courage newcomer Danielle Weatherholt came in with the final dagger of the night. A ball was served in by Victoria Pickett that left Weatherholt open to have a clear shot on goal and cement the dominant win.
The Courage won comfortably 5-1 against the Dash at WakeMed Soccer Park. The bright spot for the Dash was that you could see what Fran Alonso wants to do with the team in the attacking end but they just couldn’t get the chances needed to get into the game. The Dash also saw the debut of Avery Patterson and Kiki van Zanten who were signed from the NWSL draft, along aside Croix Soto on the back line.
The Dash will now have their home opener against Racing Louisville next weekend, on March 16th at 7:30 PM at Shell Energy Stadium. If you can’t make it out to the game, it will be streaming on NWSL+.
