By Christine Espinoza
While many players are away on international duty, including five from Houston Dash and three from Tigres, Dash would Hold It Down and send Christine Nairn off to retirement with a 5-1 victory in a friendly match with the best team in the Mexican feminine league.
The last time the Dash faced Tigres in Monterrey, Mexico, they were defeated 2-1. Though a friendly match in name, the Dash were prepared to face their currently undefeated neighbors from across the border. Favored to win the Liga MX Femenil title this season, their fifth one, Tigres displayed ease in possession during the beginning of the first half. Their style of play was smooth and relaxed, yet they quickly began to make errors in passes as Dash started to apply pressure. Although goalie Ceci Santiago would handily deflect a shot from Veronica Latsko at the 17th assisted by Bri Visalli, at the 19th they would team up to score, with Santiago deflecting Latsko but Visalli ultimately finding the back of the net.
This would begin a series of goals in the first half. Makamae Gomera-Stevens scored on the 23rd and further complicated things for Tigres. Possession would return to Tigres but with unsuccessful approaches to the last third of the field. Before halftime, Nichelle Prince would capitalize on this and score the third goal at the 30th.
In the second half, a mistake in passing by Greta Espinoza created an opportunity for Latsko to make the score 4-0 at the 50th. Latsko, again, with an impressive pass from Sophie Schmidt would help cement this victory by finding Gomera-Stevens across the box and having her score her first professional brace, making the score a whopping 5-0 at the 59th.
At the 80th Tigres Jackie Ovalle would make a pass to Katty Martinez to score the only goal for Monterrey.
When asked about the importance of international matches, Houston Dash head coach James Clarkson responded enthusiastically, “We want to continue building these relationships, and growing the game is vitally important and we want to be at the forefront of it.”
Finally, one would be remiss to not bring up Christine Nairn’s retirement. After 12 years in the NWSL and after representing the USWNT on multiple occasions since 2004, including all the games in the 2008 World Cup. Retiring to become a firefighter for the city of Houston, an emotional Nairn declared “I love this sport so much, I love this team so much-but I’m excited about the next step. It was the perfect night for me.”
Before her departure, Nairn shared her thoughts for the Dash for the rest of the season. “Hopefully we are peaking at the right time and the Dash can use this propel into the last couple of games of the season.” We will see if Nairn is correct when the Dash face Racing Louisville on September 26th.