Houston Dash unhappy with 2-2 draw

The Houston Dash were noticeably disappointed with Saturday night’s 2-2 draw at the newly renamed BBVA Stadium (formerly BBVA Compass Stadium). Despite the absence of many key players due to national team duty, the Houston Dash expected to win against Orlando Pride, but did not despite out-shooting Orlando by a 3:1 margin.

“It’s tough, but every team is going through the same thing,” said Dash head coach James Clarkson following the match. “They have a lot of impact players missing as well. I thought the players got out there and did enough to win the game. We have plenty shots on goal and a couple of calls got away as well. We really should’ve scored more goals and won the game. I’m more frustrated about the fact that we’ve given away goals. I don’t like giving two cheap goals away.”

Houston conceded a goal early after defender Ally Prisock was called for a foul just outside the eighteen yard box. Joanna Boyles put the kick away in the 20th minute giving Orlando the early lead.

Darla Kelly La Vida Loca Photography

Houston extended its record setting goal scoring streak at home when as midfielder Sofia Huerta found the back of the net to equalize in the 47th. The streak stands at 14 straight matches.

“I think that our team has been trying to work on tap-ins because a lot of our goals have been individual efforts,” said Huerta describing the sequence that led to her third goal of the season. “Like dribbling from halfway and scoring. During the last week, two weeks – we’ve been practicing just crossing the ball and tap-ins, so that’s something that Kealia and I have really had to work on and understand each other with. I knew she would get the ball across – she’s very good at that.”

Twenty minutes later, Houston had a 2-1 lead over the winless Pride. Kristie Mewis’s low blast found the back of the net and Houston seemed in control.

Mistakes though would once again haunt Houston. The Dash gave up a soft call four minutes later allowing the Pride to walk away with the draw. Former Dash forward Chioma Ubogagu dropped a pass to Boyles who found Danica Evans alone in the middle of the box. Her first touch of the night leveled the match for Orlando.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well in the first half, but in the second half we came out and took it to them,” concluded Clarkson. “We scored two good goals, created many other chances but unfortunately, we gave out another soft goal away. I think if we look at both their goals, they’re really poor from our standpoint. You can’t fault the player’s effort. They’ve really put everything into the game, but we’ve cost ourselves two points tonight. It’s really frustrating.”

Houston travels to the Maryland Sports Complex for a Saturday night (June 22) match with the Washington Spirit. Washington sits atop the NWSL table with 17 points.

Houston Dash (3-2-3; 12 pts) 2-2 Orlando Pride (0-7-2; 2 pts.)

NWSL Regular Season, Week 9

Saturday, June 15, 2019 – BBVA Stadium – Houston, Texas

Attendance: 3,776

SCORING SUMMARY:

ORL: Joanna Boyles 1 (unassisted) 20

HOU: Sofia Huerta 3 (Kealia Ohai 1) 47

HOU: Kristie Mewis 1 (unassisted) 67

ORL: Danica Evans 1 (Joanna Boyles) 71