Dash held to scoreless draw by Racing Louisville

The Houston Dash returned home after two straight road wins to welcome Racing Louisville to PNC Stadium. The Dash were on the front foot all night, attacking Louisville in waves, but were unable to find a goal and had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

Houston were on the attack much of the first half. The Dash had 7 shots, 3 on target, to 0 from the visitors. Ebony Salmon had the best chance of the first 45 minutes. Salmon shot low to the near post but Katie Lund got a leg down to makes the save as the Dash forward was unable to get on the board against her former team.

Just 3 minutes from the halftime whistle, Louisville went down a player. Salmon showed some fancy footwork at the top of the box and Racing defender Satara Murray could only foul Salmon as she went by her toward goal. The Jamaican was shown her second yellow and sent off, leaving the visitors to play with 10 for the rest of the match.

The Dash honored former captain Rachel Daly at halftime, as the former club captain is off to join Aston Villa in her native England. Daly was given a proclamation by the city and spoke to the fans in her final appearance at PNC Stadium.

Billy Mears

The second half was more of the same for Houston, with attack after attack against the 10 players of Louisville, with nothing to show for it. Shea Groom, Salmon, and Marisa Viggiano all had shots on goal in a three minute span, but none troubled Lund much. Nichelle Prince had a good run in the 81st minute but was only able to hit a slow left-footed shot at Lund. Sophie Schmidt had the last real chance for Houston as the second half approached stoppage time but again, the Louisville keeper would not be beaten. The Dash finished with 14 shots, with 9 on target, but could not get that valuable goal to take all three points.

The draw is the first dropped points for Houston under interim head coach Juan Carlos Amorós, after winning the first 3 games under the new manager. With one point, the Dash move to second place, ahead of San Diego Wave FC on goal differential. San Diego will be in action tomorrow. Next up for the Dash will be another home match, this time a midweek encounter, with NJ/NY Gotham FC visiting PNC Stadium on Wednesday, August 17. The match will kick off at 7:30 PM.