In each of the Houston Dash’s first two seasons in the NWSL, the team finished at the bottom of the goal scoring charts. So what major moves do managing director Brian Ching and head coach Randy Waldrum take going into season three? Trade away two of the team’s single-season scoring leaders and pick up a defensive midfielder.
While they may seem counterintuitive at face value, the moves were instrumental in allowing Waldrum and the Dash to play an attacking, inventive style of soccer on display in the team’s opening 3-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars on Saturday night.
The Dash pulled in two extra first round picks in the 2016 NWSL College Draft—one added in the deal for Amber Brooks (more on her in a moment) and one (plus an international slot) in exchange for Jessica McDonald and Tiffany McCarty—for a total of three picks in the top 10. Those picks and international slot were then used to grab defender Cari Roccaro (No. 5), English striker Rachel Daly (No. 6), and Canadian forward Janine Beckie (No. 8).
The combo of Daly and Beckie immediately stepped into the Dash starting XI for opening day, and with stalwart Kealia Ohai, showed perhaps the most dynamic front line Houston has had since its inception. Daly earned NWSL Player of the Week for her one goal, one assist performance. Beckie had a hockey assist on Carli Lloyd’s goal, putting Daly in position to serve in the cross, then received an assist from Ohai for the final goal of the night—just the fourth time the Dash have scored three goals in a match in franchise history.
“They have a great understanding of the game, and it makes it a lot of fun to play with them,” Lloyd said of the attacking trio. “I know that I haven’t been in and involved that much in this preseason … but it was easy to come in and connect with these players. So for me, it was fun.”
The youth of the front line belies their experience. Daly is actually the oldest of the group at 24 years, 4 months, and played for Leeds United and Lincoln Ladies in England before coming to the United States to score 50 goals for St. John’s University, in addition to England youth national team experience. Kealia Ohai, two months younger than Daly, has been the focal point of the Houston offense since her selection at No. 2 overall in the 2014 NWSL College Draft, and won the 2012 U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Beckie, at just 21, is a virtual lock for Canada’s Olympic roster having scored seven times in her 11 senior team appearances since last year’s World Cup.
They were helped by in the attack by midfielders Lloyd and Andressa, who were able to focus their efforts on controlling possession and pulling the strings in the final third thanks to addition of Brooks behind them. Waldrum said in his postgame press conference that the midfield destroyer will be an unsung hero throughout the year.
“She’s just a defensive monster in there. What it does, what we didn’t have last year, is it allows you to let Carli have more freedom, and Andressa to have more freedom and when we get Morgan Brian back,” he said. “It just allows you to do so much more offensively when you’ve someone that’s got the discipline to kind of sit in that little space in front of our center backs and win everything that comes in.”
There were still obvious moments when the new group of players looked to be on different pages, with several balls played into space where nobody made a run, and the expected return of Brian from injury in the next week or two will likely shake up the starting lineup. But any coach will prefer more options and more competition to less, and that’s exactly what Waldrum has on his hands as the Dash look to bring the offensive output out of the cellar and the team into the playoffs.
“We’ll probably get doubted a lot because we’ve got a young front line, but with the help of people Carli in there and the other players that can assist us and feed us in, it’s great,” Daly said after the win. “We’re a force to be reckoned with, and I think people can doubt us, but it will just fuel the fire.”
