Carli Lloyd made her return to Rochester Saturday night, only this time on the opposing team as the Houston Dash beat the WNY Flash 1-0 in front of a season high crowd of 4,110.
After some strongly worded comments toward the Flash organization on Friday regarding her off season trade, Lloyd let her feet do the talking on Saturday and scored the lone goal of the match. Accompanying the goal was an interesting celebration, a shushing motion made toward the Flash bench, which Lloyd discussed after the match.
“Just a different celebration to mix it up. Obviously everyone knows my comments beforehand. I meant what I said and I’m not just talking about my situation in the league, I’m talking about the ladies across the league. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask to get a little bit of respect in this league. We don’t get paid millions of dollars to just be uprooted from our families, and friends and homes and be traded on the spot.”
While Lloyd had a lot of love for the fan support in Rochester, one person not on the receiving end of that love was Flash head coach Aaran Lines. Lloyd mentioned that she hadn’t spoken to him and when asked if she would, simply replied “never”.
Those issues aside, the action on the field was pretty entertaining and a close contest throughout the majority of the match. The Flash lineup once again saw some changes as Sabrina D’Angelo got her first start in goal since her injury mid May. Lynn Williams was away for a family commitment so Elizabeth Eddy got the start at forward while Nigerian international Halimatu Ayinde made her NWSL debut.
Ayinde was tasked with a mighty big objective in her first game with the Flash: marking Carli Lloyd. Despite Lloyd eventually scoring the game winning goal, Ayinde did very well to contain her, especially in the first half, as well as contribute to the attack. Her effort on both sides of the ball did not go unnoticed by Lines. “I thought she came in there tonight, I thought she improved us. I think she’s going to give us real quality in the middle of the park. She had a role there to play in the first half today, a defensive responsibility and she did that well. As far as on the ball, she’s a great decision maker and makes our midfield better.”
The Flash played well, especially in the first half, and were pretty relentless with their attack, but two, maybe three factors prevented them from finding the back of the net. The first issue was lack of players in the box. All three forwards, Eddy, Michelle Heyman and Jasmyne Spencer made excellent runs toward goal but found themselves with no support, making it challenging to attack the goal once the defense closed in.
The second factor is that the Flash still aren’t finishing a good number of their chances, though that factor was secondary to the third, which was Erin McLeod. McLeod had an outstanding game, earning the clean sheet with an incredible 12 saves on the evening the keep the Flash at bay. Both coaches applauded her efforts, with Dash coach Randy Waldrum calling her one of the best goalkeepers in the world and Lines noting the major impact she had on the game.
Though the Flash had the advantage in the first half, the Dash came out in the second with a modified game plan, changing to a 4-4-2 diamond. The Flash spent the early stages of the half trying to adjust to the change in tactics and the rest of the half trying to adapt, but the change definitely paid off for the Dash who looked much stronger than at the start of the match.
One of the biggest issues for the Flash this season has been their defending, especially on set pieces and while Houston’s goal didn’t come from a set piece, the situation was quite similar. A Dash corner was headed away, but only got as far as Meghan Klingenberg at the edge of the box. Klingenberg sent a high cross to the back post that found Lloyd who was poorly marked in front of the goal and was able to head it past D’Angelo to give the Dash the lead.
The Flash battled back, but were unable to find an equalizer. Lady Andrade made her NWSL debut and showed some impressive footwork and just how dangerous she could be when she came close to putting one in late in the match. Samantha Mewis had a dangerous run in the box but was broken up by an excellent tackle from Ella Masar. Ultimately the lack of support and finishing combined with the standout performance from McLeod cost the Flash points.
With this result, the Flash drop to 6th in the standings and play 8th place Portland Thorns on Wednesday June 29 at 7pm ET.
