Houston Dash earn first win of 2019 season with 1-0 victory over Sky Blue FC

Photo courtesy of
Paul-Michael Ochoa and Major League Soccer
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 20, 2019) The Houston Dash and Sky Blue FC battled for 83 minutes, after which midfielder Sofia Huerta broke the scoring drought to give Houston a 1-0 win on Saturday evening.  The fleet-footed Heurta left-footed the ball past Sky Blue goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan from outside the box, to the bottom left corner. It was the first goal of the season for the 28-year-old who played her college soccer for the Santa Clara Broncos. The win gave the Dash three points, pushing their season total to four and  third place in the current NWSL standings. 

The Dash took 11 shots on goal; 10 more than Sky Blue could manage. Houston controlled most of the game; including shots (19-8), blocked shots (3-2), corners (8-3), crosses (21-8), and total passes (496-418), and possession (54-7%-45.3%).

Two yellow cards were issued during the match. The first was to Dash defender Lindsay Agnew in the 49th minute and to Sky Blue midfielder Carli Lloyd; both for "unsporting behavior." At the 63rd minute, Houston  midfielder Kristie Mewis entered the game for Agnew, stepping foot on the field for the first time since her knee injury last May. Along with Mewis, forward Jamia Fields entered the game for midfielder Sophia Schmidt, making her Dash debut.