Solid passing, advancing the ball keys to Houston Dash downing Orlando on Sunday, May 5

Photo by
Darla S Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

By Jennifer Edwards
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (May 4, 2019) The Houston Dash lost to the North Carolina Courage by the score of 4-1 this past Sunday (April 28) at BBVA Compaass Stadium. The score did noy reflect the amount of work the Dash displayed on the field and in practice. It was easy to see that the Houston did their homework ahead of the 2018 NWSL Champions coming to Houston. They did a great job defensively and had a pretty decent showing offensively. Their passing game has come a long ways in the past two seasons. They are making better connections with their passing and communicating within those passing opportunities much better than in previous seasons.

While the passing game is coming together, was a major disconnect between the Dash midfielders and the forwards. It looked as if the game plan was to keep the midfielders from crossing the midfield area and take a more defensive role and not assist the forwards in advancing toward scoring opportunities. The only problem with this idea was when of the two designated forwards advanced the ball with their speed, the offsides call was made because there were not enough players across the line when a shot was attempted. Rachel Daly (No. 3, shown above right) scored a beautiful goal that was called back for this reason. She tried to argue the call knowing it was going to a fruitless argument.

The coaches made some great strategic moves to make positive changes, but it was too little too late when the Courage scored 3 goals in the second half. While the four goals scored would clearly point to a goalkeeping issue, that is not the case in the Dash defensive line. Jane Campbell had a spectacular save in the free kick that the Courage were awarded. She also had a number of “Save of the Week” worthy saves. It can clearly be seen that the Dash’s full time goalkeeper coach is doing great work and making great strides in this area.

The Dash will take on the Orlando Pride this Sunday. Hopefully their offensive woes will not carry over on to this game and the Dash can get back to their solid passing skills and advancing the ball without so many offsides calls.