 |
| Photo by Darla Tamulitis, La Vita Loca Photography Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved |
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved
HOUSTON, TEXAS (May 6, 2020) The Houston Dash have been through some ups and downs throughout their years. They have
had some coaches that created a team of women and some who have torn those same women
down. Coach James Clarkson has created a team of women that consider each other sisters
and created a solid unit in a club that saw the most off-season trades in the NWSL.
One of those off-season trades came in the form of Megan Oyster and Shea Groom from OL
Reign in exchange for Amber Brooks and Sophia Huerta. This shored up the backline with
Oyster that Clarkson was quietly building and created a powerhouse in the midfield. Once he
put his team in place the Coronavirus swept through the United States and shut down the
season. Clarkson used this time to create a sisterhood via Zoom. It is incredibly evident that this
team is solid in the fact that they are the most scoring team in the NWSL Challenge Cup and
currently sit in second place in the rankings.
Naming Rachel Daly and Jane Campbell, veterans of the team, as the team captains took both
women into a leadership role they already possessed.
With the title an avid fan can see they
wear that mantle with pride leading their team from the top of the field to the goalposts.
Most of the strategy comes down to substitutions. Each team in the Challenge Cup receives 5
subs per game. During the Dash’s first game against the Utah Royals, the downfall of the Dash
was in the substitutions. While the players were strong they needed stronger subs to create that
push to win the game. Clarkson did not make the same mistake twice and made stronger subs
the second game against OL Reign and it showed. The push to the end of the game was
consistent that a coach wants to see and the goals in the OL Reign could be used to put on
soccer clinics for years to come.
Don’t sleep on the Houston Dash. They came to play, they came to win and are showing the
league that they are a force to be reckoned with.
No comments:
Post a Comment