Dash hoping for victory in first ever LA matchup: What to watch for

The Houston Dash will look to continue their great run of form as they face off against league newcomer Angel City FC tonight in Los Angeles. The Dash are coming off a commanding 5-0 victory at home against the Orlando Pride. On the other side, Angel City’s recent match was also last Friday, a 3-0 loss away against the Portland Thorns.

Jane’s safe hands

The Houston Dash have not suffered a loss in the last 5 matches. The team is playing lights out defensively, only conceding 3 goals during the entire NWSL season so far, the lowest in the league. One big component to making that happen has been goalkeeper Jane Campbell. While she hasn’t been called on often, Jane has been outstanding when it has been required of her. She has saved 15 of the 18 shots she has faced pushing her save success rate to 83.3% with 3 clean sheets in 6 matches played.

Offensive firepower

The Houston Dash hadn’t scored more then 2 goals in a match this season, but that all ended during Friday night. Nichelle Prince tallied the first hat-trick in club history, Rachel Daly scored a goal that reminded many of Robin Van Persie’s World Cup masterpiece, and Michelle Alozie called game, scoring the 5th goal of the match in the 87th minute. Now can the team continue to find the net consistently in the matches to come? The Dash are tied with the Chicago Red Stars for the second in the NWSL in scoring at 11 goals and their goal differential is a league-leading plus-eight.

Another newcomer

The last time that Houston faced a league newbie, San Diego Wave FC, they were defeated 1-0 at home in the opening match of the regular season. Now the team will take on another NWSL newcomer in Angel City FC, who like the Dash, struggled during the Challenge Cup. Now the team from Los Angeles is sitting in 7th place with 3 wins and 3 loss in 6 regular season matches. Even though this will be the first matchup between the teams, there will be familiar faces such as Jasmyne Spencer and Cari Roccaro who both played for the Dash in the past.