Daly’s brace leads Dash to victory over Orlando

After a two-hour lightning delay, Rachel Daly scored a brace to lead the Houston Dash to a 3-1 victory over the Orlando Pride on Wednesday night at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Daly opened the scoring in the 17th minute. The Dash forward received a through ball from Kealia Ohai, made a long run towards goal and tucked her finish past a diving Ashlyn Harris and into the back of the net.

She continued her strong play at the start of the second half, placing a left-footed chip into the side netting. Five minutes later, Daly collected her brace with a goal on a volley attempt. After Harris punched away Houston’s initial attempt, Daly volleyed the ball into the top corner to give Houston a 2-0 lead.

Sydney Leroux got one back for Orlando with a goal in the 55th minute. After Orlando’s corner kick was cleared away by Allysha Chapman, Shelina Zadorsky sent the ball back into the box and Leroux converted her header.

Daly nearly completed a hat-trick in stoppage time netting another 1v1 attempt past Harris but her goal was disallowed due to a late offside call. A minute later, Thembi Kgatlana found herself on a 1v1 break and slotted her finish past Harris for a 3-1 Dash lead.

The match finished on a sour note as a frustrated Marta pushed Rachel Daly and was sent off with a straight red card.

With the victory, Houston still remain in seventh place in the standings (5-5-5, 20 points) but now sit just five points behind the Chicago Red Stars who hold the final playoff spot.

The Dash will look to start a winning streak on the road on Sunday against Portland Thorns FC at Providence Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 10 pm CT.