The Houston Dash may be in a bye week, but it didn’t stop them from having a competitive scrimmage as they prepare for a two-game road trip next week. The Dash scrimmaged the U-14 Houston Dynamo Academy team, and both Kimberly Keever and Veronica Latsko scored.
In hopes making her debut this season, Kealia Ohai got to play in her first competitive scrimmage since her season-ending injury last June in Orlando.
“It was great, it was fun. I’ve been really ready for this, but it’s very different- especially when you are playing boys,” Ohai said. “So, it was a challenge for me, but I felt really good and my knee felt stable and I am excited.”
For head coach Vera Pauw this was a milestone as she looks to add Ohai to the gameday roster for the first time this season.
“That is amazing, I think that I was more nervous than she was,” Pauw said. “The moment that she gets in the game, on the pitch, that’s a big moment. That is really something else in training. There are moments where you have to make that step and she was absolutely ready for it, you can also see that, so those first 20 minutes are under the belt and now we go build from that,”
Thembi Kgatlana joined the team for her first scrimmage since the preseason. Kgatlana has not played since the Portland Spring Invitational in March, yet she generated two of Houston’s best offensive threats in the first half that forced saves from the Dynamo Academy goalkeeper.
“It’s fantastic that she is here, and she will be valuable to the team,” Pauw said about Kgatlana.
Meanwhile for Pauw, the scrimmage was very essential to evaluate how players have adjusted to her system and to find key points that could be valuable to get the first win of the season.
“We will use this week to make a few steps, both in our play and in our soccer fitness, so we have been working really hard,” Pauw said. “The team was okay today, but you can also see when you have the high-pressure games from the league and then you play a game in between a scrimmage. That shows that the real sharpness is not there and that showed in a few mistakes defensively but overall I am very happy because we also saw a lot of variety in our attack and our possession of play.”
The scrimmage was also valuable to players who have seen limited minutes on the field thus far, such as Michaela Hahn and Allie Murphy, who are both looking to make their debuts with the club this season.
Kgatlana and Allison Wetherington have not had competitive minutes since mid-March, and Sammy Jo Prudhomme was in the goal for the first time outside of training due to a shoulder injury in preseason.
Lindsay Agnew, Rachel Daly, Nichelle Prince and Kyah Simon were not present due to international duty.
Houston will return to Houston Sports Park on Friday to prepare for a two-game road trip next week that begins on Wednesday, April 18 at Chicago and concludes in Orlando as the Dash travel to Florida to play the Pride on Sunday, April 22.
