Originally published on July 18, 2015
The Houston Dash held the Washington Spirit to a 1-1 draw at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston last night. The Spirit won their previous two meetings with the Dash including a 3-2 stoppage time win in Maryland and a 1-0 win in Texas.
The Spirit controlled the game for the majority of the first half and had several promising looks on goal.
The Spirit were first get on the score sheet after Jodie Taylor sent in a perfectly timed curling through ball to Lisa DeVanna who was streaking up the left side. DeVanna took on Dash goalkeeper Erin McLeod, but managed to get off a composed and well placed shot that found the back of the net to put the Spirit up 1-0 in the 19th minute.
Despite the continued pressure on McLeod and the Dash back line, the Spirit weren’t able increase their lead before the end of the half.
The Dash came out in the second half and capitalized on a flat performance from the Spirit to mount their own dangerous attacks in their offensive third. After a series of shots on goal and corner kicks the Dash equalized thanks to a a curling corner kick sent in by Stephanie Ochs, an assist from Kaylyn Kyle/Yael Averbuch’s back and smart positioning by Marissa Diggs in the 77th minute.
The Spirit’s defending on the set piece that allowed the Dash to draw level was truly confounding. Averbuch appeared to be the player tasked with covering the far post, but she had drifted toward Harris in the middle. When the ball did fly in toward her, Averbuch appears to duck rather than make an active attempt to clear the ball. There isn’t much turnaround time before their next game, but no doubt the Spirit will be putting in some time practicing set pieces.
Another area of concern for the Spirit will be the form of their leading goal scorer forward Jodie Taylor. Taylor had several opportunities including a 1v1 situation and basically faced an open net in the second half, but failed to score on any of those opportunities. Taylor had similar struggles in the Spirit’s previous game against the Western New York Flash. Taylor will look to regain her form in New Jersey in Sunday when the Spirit play Sky Blue FC.
Aside from poor defending on set pieces and a few wasted scoring opportunities, another head scratcher from the match last night was head coach Mark Parsons’ apparent contentment with settling for a draw. The substitutions and game plan in the second half seemed lackluster considering the Spirit are in a massive battle with Portland Thorns FC and the Chicago Red Stars for one of the two final playoff spots.
One of the few Spirit players who was taking risks in the second half of the match was goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris. She played her favored role of sweeper keeper at several crucial moments of the match. Harris is fully aware of the risk of playing that role and coming out for balls well outside of her box. After the Boston game on July 2nd she said “[Coming off my line is] high risk high reward.” Harris continued “knock on wood nothing happened. There are some sketchy times, but if I am not there then it is just a foot race and who knows what is going to happen…If Neuer can figure it out, then I guess I can.”
The Spirit will have to win nearly all of their remaining games if they hope to sneak into the third or fourth playoff spot.
The Houston Dash are now 5-10-2 on the season and will face the Chicago Red Stars on Saturday July 26th. Meanwhile, the Spirit are now 8-7-3 and will play the Sky Blue FC on Sunday at 6 PM EDT.