Houston Dash Make a Statement in Salt Lake City with Rachel Daly Brace

The Dash defeat the undefeated Utah Royals 2-1 to temporarily land in 1st place of the NWSL

Photo credit Houston Dash

Sandy, UT – The Houston Dash earned their third victory of the season by defeating the Utah Royals on the road.

The Dash came into this match without some of their most important players like Nichelle Prince, Lindsay Agnew, Alyssa Chapman and Sophie Schmidt, who all reported this week to the Canadian Nation Team for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Another important loss for the Houston Dash was Veronica Latsko, who suffered an ACL injury in training, per Hal Kaiser of Keeper Notes.

Unfortunate Houston Dash news, Veronica Latsko tore her ACL in training on Wednesday and will miss the rest of the season.

— Hal Kaiser (@Hal_Kaiser) May 10, 2019

This injury will cause Latsko to miss the remainder of the 2019 NWSL season.

Even with these losses, Houston Dash coach, James Clarkson, was very confident in the talent of the rest of his players.

Obviously, we are going to lose between seven and nine players. Building the squad knowing that in advance is important. We’ve got a lot of players that have had some experience of games already. Our draft picks and our rookies come in over the next couple of games. I think we are prepared for it and it will be important that we really capitalize on the quality players that we still have here for us throughout the world cup.”

James Clarkson – Houston Dash Head Coach

The Utah Royals came to this match undefeated with a record of 3-0-0 and with three shutouts.

The Utah Royals opened the score sheet in the 29th minute. Verónica Boquete sends a through ball to Amy Rodríguez who dribbles the ball into the box and slots the ball past Jane Campbell.

The Houston Dash were able to equalize before halftime thanks to a defensive error by Samantha Johnson. Rachel Daly recovers the loose ball and dribbles into the box and sends a shot towards the far post, impossible to save for Nicole Barnhart.

Coming back from halftime, the Houston Dash continued to push for the go ahead goal, finding it in the 50th minute.

Arianna Romero sends a lobbed through ball for Rachel Daly, who once again is able to get behind the defense and sends another shot to the far post that Barnhart cannot save.

However, the Houston Dash were placed in a predicament in stoppage time as Rachel Daly was sent off for an apparent aggression to a Utah Royals defender.

Even with a player down, the Houston Dash were able to hold off the Royals attack to earn their third victory of the season and inch their way closer to their best start in club history.

What is more surprising about the victory was that even with 34% possession, the Houston Dash outshout the Utah Royals 11-7.

However, going forward, the question is, who can fill in for Rachel Daly‘s spot now that she will be reporting with the Lionesses?

The Houston Dash return to BBVA Compass Stadium this Sunday at 4pm to host the Chicago Red Stars.