Katy kid powers Dash to win over Chicago
(image via Houston Dash)
Katy native Bárbara Olivieri came to what is now Shell Energy Stadium as a kid for the first exhbition match. Wednesday night she helped lead the Houston Dash to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars in the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup. “Yeah, it was definitely surreal,” Olivieri said after scoring her first goal for her hometown club. “Coming here for the first exhibition match and then the feeling of seeing the ball go in the back of the net was great. So, yeah, definitely crazy, really exciting.”
Earlier this week, head coach Sam Laity mentioned that he was going put out a strong eleven for Wednesday’s match and that the players have the fire in their eyes. They wanted to quickly put Friday’s abandoned match loss behind them. Laity only made 5 changes from the team that played 52 minutes against the North Carolina Courage. Michelle Alozie made her start for the season, on the wing, in place of Ebony Salmon. Olivieri also got back into the team in the midfield.
In the first couple of minutes of the first half you could see the fire that the players had to prove a point. In the fourth minute, Chicago defender Casey Krueger fouled Allysha Chapman outside the 18-yard box. María Sánchez served the ball into the box to Diana Ordóñez but she leaped and missed the header. The ball instead landed to Olivieri who slotted it home for the Dash. Houston took the 1-0 lead after just five minutes and Barb had her first goal for the Dash.
The Dash didn’t stop there. They kept pushing Chicago’s defense and goalkeeper. Houston could’ve felt they had chances to go two of three up before the half, especially chances from Sophie Schmidt’s flick and Ordóñez’s shot that was blocked from close range. The first half ended with the Dash leading 1-0. Houston dominated the possession, 58%, with 7 shots coming inside the box.
(image via Houston Dash)
The second half became a cagey match. Both teams couldn’t take control of the game like the Dash did in the first half. It all changed in the 66th minute when Laity made three substitution to put fresh legs in the game, bringing on Courtney Petersen, Marisa Viggiano, and a debut for Madelyn Desiano. 71 minutes in, Viggiano made an impact in helping get the ball get into the box. She played the ball into the box and Chicago defender Bianca St-Georges fouled Michelle Alozie to give Houston a penalty kick. Up stepped Ordóñez to take the penalty and she calmly fired down the middle, past Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. The Dash took a 2-0 lead in the 72nd minute and wouldn’t look back.
To reassure the win, Laity made subs on the defense and up front, bringing on Lindsi Jennings along with Ebony Salmon. It become a stalemate at the end of the second half as Houston were happy to see out the game and pick up their first three points of the Challenge Cup. Laity picked up his first win as a head coach at Shell Energy Stadium. “I felt that with a couple of changes tonight, we reacted pretty well,” the Dash head coach said after the win. “Good intensity, we played with urgency. Towards the end of the first half, we started to slow things down a little bit too much, but I think was a good reaction. A good reaction from the team, an important one.” With this result, the Dash sit second in the group with three points.
The point has been proven and the team will feel like they can build from this performance. “These three points in a Challenge Cup game are huge for confidence here at home,” Olivieri said. “Going into the travel schedule with our heads held up and going in with the same energy on Saturday.”
The Dash will travel to face OL Reign at Lumen Field for NWSL league play on Saturday, May 6th. The game will kick off at 9 PM CT and it will be streamed on Paramount +.
