The Houston Dash will make their playoff debut at home tomorrow afternoon against the Kansas City Current. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. CDT at PNC Stadium.
With a win, the Dash would advance to the semifinal round of the NWSL Playoffs and take on OL Reign in Seattle on Oct. 23.
Sunday’s playoff match will stream live on Paramount+ and Twitch for international viewers. There are still limited tickets available for tomorrow’s match. To purchase ticket to Houston’s first ever playoff game, click here.
The Dash enter the playoff match following arguably the best season in team history. Houston earned a club-record10 wins this season, including a league-leading seven road wins. Forward Ebony Salmon scored nine goals in 12 games after being traded to Houston midway through the season. The Dash wrapped up the 2022 regular season with a 2-1 win over the Washington Spirit at Audi Field in D.C.
In four meetings across all competitions this season, the Dash had a 1-3-0 record against Kansas City this season. Houston’s win in Kansas City on May 8 was the first win of the regular season and the first career win for then-acting head coach Sarah Lowdon.
Kansas City closed out its regular season on the road against Louisville on Oct. 1. The Current and Racing were tied with less than 30 seconds left in stoppage time regulation. Veteran forward Jess McDonald scored the game winning goal to give the host team the lead. Unable to capitalize with less than 20 seconds left before the referee called the game, Kansas City fell in the regular season finale.
Here are three key points ahead of Saturday's match:
- A YEAR OF FIRSTS: The Dash will make their NWSL playoff debut nine years after the team began play. Throughout the 2022 regular season, several first-time achievements were met along the way. A month into the regular season, forward Nichelle Prince completed the club’s first hat trick in a 5-0 win over the Orlando Pride. Interim head coach Juan Carlos Amoros became the first NWSL coach to win his first three games in league play. He also became the first coach in team history to win his debut game. The Dash earned their first wins on the road in Seattle and Chicago. Houston also set a club record for most points in a season with 36 and did so while playing two fewer games than in five of its previous seven regular seasons. In the front office, the Dash added their first team president in Jessica O’Neill and first standalone general manager in Alex Singer.
- FAMILIAR FOES: Three of the four teams in this year’s postseason were in the central division in Challenge Cup play – Houston, Chicago and Kansas City. With the two regular season games paired with the two Challenge Cup group play matches, these three teams have seen each other four times this season. The Dash and Current are set to match up for a fifth time on Sunday. The teams are fairly evenly matched by looking at them on paper. The teams finished the year with identical 10-6-6 records and both teams have multiple players with more than five goals in the regular season. Both teams produced six shutouts this regular season, with Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell accounting for all six on the Dash side and AD Franch and Cassie Miller combining on the Current side.
- KANSAS CITY’S GOAL SCORERS: The Current had three players account for 20 of their 29 goals this season. Capitan Lo LaBonta and Cece Kizer, who started this season out in Racing Louisville, were tied for the team lead in goals scored this season. Kristen Hamilton, who scored six in the season, was one goal away from joining LaBonta and Kizer. Kansas City only had one game in the regular season where they have won by more than one goal, Houston has five.
