Sports stats



NWSL Houston Dash

Houston Dash Fall 1-0 to FC Kansas City, Split Season Series

June 20, 2016 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Houston Dash News Release


HOUSTON - A late second-half goal from D Becky Sauerbrunn gave FC Kansas City (FCKC) a 1-0 victory over the Houston Dash this evening at BBVA Compass Stadium.

The game-winning goal started with a corner kick from MF Heather O'Reilly in the 80th minute. MF Yael Averbuch's shot struck FW Rachel Daly in the face and the rebound found Sauerbrunn near the penalty spot. The U.S. Women's National Team co-captain's header beat Dash GK Lydia Williams at the far post for her first goal of the season.

With this result, the Dash have now lost the last two home games by identical 1-0 score lines. This was also the last home game for six of the seven projected national team players participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

FW Chioma Ubogagu was an early threat and her cross in the 6th minute almost found MF Morgan Brian inside the six-yard box. GK Nicole Barnhart handled the ball to quell the danger.

Brian's corner kick in the 21st minute found D Poliana near the penalty spot but her shot went wide of the near post.

Ubogagu caught FCKC's defense out of position in the 24th minute after she intercepted a pass from Averbuch. The forward's first touch was too heavy allowing Barnhart to come off her line to clear the ball.

D Allysha Chapman hit the crossbar with a 35-yard shot in the 53rd minute. Eight minutes later Poliana's low cross to the far past was handled by Barnhart.

Daly came on in the 63rd minute for Ubogagu and three minutes later her shot hit the near post. A pass from FW Janine Beckie began the play. MF Denise O'Sullivan collected the rebound and found Ohai outside the six-yard box. The forward's shot went over the crossbar.

O'Reilly came close to scoring her first goal of the game in the 73rd minute. Her shot bounced off Williams' back after the goalkeeper got a touch. Fortunately for Williams, the ball bounced out of play avoiding the near post by a few feet.

FW Melissa Henderson returned to the field after she sprained her right MCL during the preseason. Her first touch came in the 75th minute but her cross was collected by Barnhart before Daly could make contact.

In second-half stoppage time, O'Sullivan's shot outside the 18-yard box went wide of the near post. Minutes later second-half substitute MF Amber Brooks' long range effort went over the crossbar.

The Dash travel to Florida on Thursday, June 23 for their third meeting with Alex Morgan and the Orlando Pride. The Dash return to BBVA Compass Stadium on July 16 to host Portland Thorns FC. For tickets or additional information, visit HoustonDashSoccer.com

Houston Dash vs. FC Kansas City postgame transcripts

Dash head coach Randy Waldrum

(on his initial thoughts on the game) "I was proud of the performance tonight. I thought we were much better, obviously than we were last week and the week before. It's the same thing. Give up a mistake late, and you've got to finish your opportunities. When you don't, the margin of error in this league is so small. It puts us in a deep hole right now. Like I told them afterwards; you don't stop. You keep grinding. We'll get back at it Tuesday and see if we can't get a result up in Orlando on Thursday."

(on the attack looking better tonight) "Yea, if you don't get the points, the goals, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. But I thought it was much better. We took (MF) Amber (Brooks), who's kind of been our defensive horse in there, and decided to go with the three attacking players in that spot. I did think it gave us a much better attack tonight. I thought we handled the ball well and we were able to open them up a little bit. We're still missing a little bit in that final third. We got into those areas much better than we did in the couple weeks past, so I think it was an improvement. But still when we get in there, I think the little things, the refinement of that one final pass, or that striker that will take that half chance, that will try to score a goal instead of try to make the final pass in there. We're still missing a little bit of that. And we were a bit unlucky a couple times tonight. (F) Rachel (Daly) as soon as she came on had a great strike. A couple of those opportunities that I think we could have still walked away with a result tonight. So, it's hard because you see the kids work so hard. To do the things that we've been trying to do to get wins, and we're not getting the rewards for those at the moment. It's very frustrating."

(on the forwards getting in deeper tonight) "No (it's not something that we've been working on in particular). I think what we try to do is, part of our problem has been in the weeks past is we've either had all three of them coming deep for the ball, and then when you get it in midfield because you overloaded the midfield when they come deep, then we have no body to play to. So what we've really tried to work on the last couple weeks is making sure we're trying to unbalance them with one coming short, but one stretching them deep. I thought especially the first half (F) Janine (Beckie) was pretty good at it with her movement from the central striker spot, where (F) Kealia (Ohai) or (F) Chioma (Obogagu) would come deep and Janine would run deep and try to get into that space that we could play in behind. It's not all clicking yet. I think it was better for us in that movement, but we're still not on the same page with the group yet. But I thought it was much better, especially out of the first group. In thought Chioma and Kealia and Janine were pretty good up front for us to begin with. The thing we talked about at half time was its one thing to get into that final third, but we still have to make (GK Nicole) Barnhart work. I think we really had maybe one or two shots from a little bit of distance there. We never still really made her work. Having said that, I thought defensively we did well with them too. They didn't have much at all on the night, until we gave up the goal, and then we switched to three backs instead of four. We pushed (MF) Amber (Brooks) forward to try and get the goal back. The spaces opened up a little bit. At that point it doesn't matter if you lose two or three or one."

(on MF Andressa's effect on the decision making of the middle) "Yea, that's what we had hoped. I think it was a lot having not only Andressa sitting in that spot, but (MF) Denise (O'Sullivan) was very good tonight. O'Sullivan I thought was fantastic for us tonight. I think having those two players that have that experience in slowing things down and finding those spaces was key. The gamble you take is if you try that with three kind of more attacking midfield players, if you can't keep the ball you're in trouble because you're forcing them to defend when they're not defensive type midfield players. That was the discussion that we had as a staff, is do you risk playing three attacking mids in there and no (MF) Amber (Brooks), or do you keep Amber in there and maybe you don't generate as much attack out of midfield. And that's kind of been a little bit of the quandary the last couple weeks. We I felt like even though the forwards haven't been great, in all fairness to them, some of the entry passes and things like that we've been giving them haven't been up to par. So we haven't had a midfield that's been putting them in good position. So we thought going that way would help us in that regard. I really felt like it did. I felt like it really helped us open the game up and spread it out. I liked the tempo of the game. I liked the way the first half went. I thought as long as they played at that tempo, we were able to move it and spread them out and for the most part could keep play. Until we got to that final third and then we've still got to create better chances once you get in and around the box."

(on the effect of so many players leaving for international duty soon) "I think it's almost two seasons. I think all of these teams, now there will be a few teams that are hit less by the national team duty, but what you're seeing a month from now could be completely different from a standings stand point in the league table because everybody's basically going to have a different team. It's whoever's got the best roster to manage that time period while they're gone. I like ours. I don't know how it will play out for us when this happens, after this next game in Orlando Thursday, but I know I do like that roster better than where we were this time last year trying to cope with it during the World Cup. I still think, you know I'm the eternal optimist, I still think we're in it. Even though we're going to be at the bottom or close to the bottom of the table after this weekend, it's still close enough in the league that you put a few wins together, and maybe it comes at this time when the national team players are gone, you just don't know. I think it's going to be interesting. So I almost see it as a second season. It will be interesting to see if the teams that are doing well continue to do well. I think a few of those at the top have some key players that are maybe a little bit more key that what we're losing in some regards. We haven't had (F) Carli (Lloyd) much at all anyway. So we lose (MF) Morgan (Brian) and obviously the Brazilians and (GK) Lydia (Williams) in goal, but we're very comfortable with (GK) B(ianca Henninger) and think she'll do a great job stepping in. I think we'll be in good shape with it. We need that group to maybe close the gap for us. You just got to keep going. We can't turn in the towel now and stop. We have to keep pushing and I think this group will continue to fight all the way. That's one thing that we've been about for a couple years. We've set that and I think they'll continue to do it. You just hope that the results start to come your way. We need them to. We recognize we're in a hole.

Dash FW Kealia Ohai

(on the outcome of the game) "Right at the end of the game we are giving up something that's so easily fixed. A corner kick, you should never get beat on a corner kick. You know your marks. You're ready. You're waiting for it. It's frustrating because I thought we dominated that game and I thought we played the best we've played. We were clicking better. Our midfield, the movement was amazing and it's really frustrating. It comes down to that moment at the end of the game where you can't get beat, you can't let them score. It's not one person, or who lost their mark, it's every single one of us that just needs the mentality 'I'm not going to get beat here. I will not get beat.' We're missing that right now, and we have to fix it now."

(regarding Melissa and Rachel coming on) "It was good. It was good to get them on. Rachel came on and had that shot. It was good to get them on, it's just we got to finish our chances. All of us. We got to keep them from scoring. All of us. It's that simple."

(on playing more aggressive) "We really focused this week on the forwards watching each other's movements and saying, if one is checking, I'm going to go long. If one's going long, I'm going to check. I think that's why it was clicking better. I thought Andressa did an incredible job holding midfield. It's something that you don't really notice if you're just watching a game because it's a pretty simple position, but she was so mobile, and it really opened up a lot for us. I thought our movement was better. We were more aggressive, but I still think that the final pass we're missing a crispness and an intensity on that final pass where we're going to score here. It's a mentality thing I really think. But the movement was better and the midfield I thought played awesome today."

Dash FW Melissa Henderson

(On having an increased role moving forward) "Like I said, I'm just grateful for any opportunity I get, the minutes I get and to try to do my best to make things happen out there and to contribute in any way possible whether it be coming off the bench at the end or starting, whatever is I'm just excited to be a part of it and going forward I mean it's exciting, like you said have a half a season coming up and just trying to step in when I'm needed and national team players are gone and just taking full advantage of the opportunity."

(On what this game leaves) "We need to take advantage, we need to win, and we need to go in there with a mindset that we need to score goals. We need to execute plays. We need to go in there with confidence, we have the talent. Comes to show we really dominated."

Check out the Houston Dash Statistics



National Women's Soccer League Stories from June 20, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central