Match Preview: Houston Dash vs. Racing Louisville
FCPNC Stadium | Houston, Texas – Friday, August 12 at 8:30 PM ET
Players to watch:
Houston forward Ebony Salmon has been on fire for the Dash in recent matches, scoring six goals in here last three games—all Houston wins. Also active for her side in attack as of late is midfielder Shea Groom who has both scored and assisted in Houston’s last three games. Houston goalkeeper Jane Campbell has also made some key stops in those matches, but the four goals conceded in that stretch for a 1.33 GA is close to her 1.23 GA season average.
In Louisville’s last five matches, they have scored four goals with all four scored by a different player. Forwards Nadia Nadim and Kirsten Davis and midfielders Alex Chidiac and Savannah DeMelo were all on target on separate occasions. Nadim leads the team in goals scored (4) with DeMelo (3) and forward Jessica McDonald (2) not far behind.
Match facts: The Houston Dash welcome Racing Louisville FC to PNC Stadium on Friday night as the weekend’s action kicks off. One of the big headlines is Ebony Salmon, who was traded from Louisville to Houston just a few weeks ago, facing her former side for the first time, but Houston is also still very much in contention for the 1st place spot in the league and will want to keep momentum going, while Louisville is in the playoff hunt as well and would do well to convert draws to wins in their next few matches.
The Dash are in the middle of a four-game win streak—their first such run since last Fall and only the third time in club history. Most recently, they came out on top in a road battle against OL Reign that saw a brace from Ebony Salmon propel them to second-half comeback win, and their other wins against Gotham FC and the Chicago Red Stars have seen the team produce four goals in each outing.
Racing Louisville, meanwhile, is tied for second in the league in draws (7) and have drawn five out of their last seven played in total. Most recently, a back-and-forth encounter with the Washington Spirit in Louisville saw forward Nadia Nadim initially put the hosts in front only for Spirit forward Ashley Hatch to equalize as the teams settled for a 1-1 draw.
These two sides have met just once in the regular season but also met twice in the Challenge Cup, with Houston winning two of the three overall clashes. The regular season matchup came in mid-May as late goals from forwards Nichelle Prince for Houston and Jessica McDonald for Louisville cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw. In the Challenge Cup, Houston produced one-goal wins on each occasion, defeating Louisville on the road in late March by a 3-2 scoreline before claiming victory on home soil in a 2-1 win in late April.
