By Manuel Olivares
The Houston Dash defeated the Chicago Red Stars of the score line of 4-1, huge part of first career hat-trick of young Ebony Salmon and late goal of Joelle Anderson. This win breaks the Dash’s losing streak with Interim Head Coach Juan Carlos Amorós.
The game started off great for the Houston Dash. Just took 11 minutes for Ebony Salmon to get her first goal for the Dash, thanks to pressure from Shea Groom to allow a loose ball in the box for Salmon to place it on the bottom left corner.
The combination of Salmon and Ryan Gareis, who made her first start for the team, caused Chicago many problems. This lead Salmon on the counterattack for the second goal at the first minute of stoppage time to out pace her defender and give Houston 2-0 going into halftime.
Both sides into the second half came out to make an impact. Chicago trying to take shoots at Lindsey Harris’s goal, who made her first start of the season in goal. But Houston still relayed on Salmon and Gareis pace against the defense of the Red Stars. Salmon completed her hat-trick in the 55th minute. This is a milestone for her but also for the Dash since this is second hat-trick for the Dash’s history. There have been only 3 hat-tricks for NWSL season and 2 of them came from the Dash.
Chicago got a late goal in the 88th minute by Samantha Fisher to make the score 3-1 but in the end of stoppage time, Joelle Anderson scored her first NWSL goal to make the final score 4-1 for the night.
Many positives came out in the night. It shows the depth this teams has with injuries, players being away for international break and covid protocols. This game also shows how the new Interim Head Coach Amorós can change this team around in a short period of time. Many good signs for this team to reach its first playoffs.
The Dash will be away for the next game at Red Bull Arena to face off NJ/NY Gotham FC on July 31st.