Shell Energy Stadium | Houston, Texas – Saturday, May 20 at 8:30 PM ET
Players to watch:
Houston forward Ebony Salmon scored her first goal of the season with the game-winning goal against the Thorns. Since making her debut for the Dash on July 1 last season, only Debinha (13) has more NWSL regular season goals than Salmon. Salmon’s goal was the winner as well, with only teammate Diana Ordóñez scoring a game-winning goal this season (2-1 at Chicago). However, only attacker María Sánchez (2) has more than one goal on the year so far, also contributing an assist on the year.
San Diego defender Christen Westphal delivered her fifth assist in all competitions for the Wave, setting up teammate Belle Briede’s second-half goal against Kansas City on Saturday. That assist put Westphal up with forward Alex Morgan for the most in the team’s history, but only Westphal is able to say that her five assists all came to different goalscorers. Speaking of Morgan, the U.S. star leads her team in scoring with five goals, and only teammate Jaedyn Shaw (3) has scored more than one goal for the club in the regular season.
Match facts: The Houston Dash welcome in San Diego Wave FC on Saturday night at Shell Energy Stadium, with Houston looking to capitalize on its first positive home result of the year last week, a 2-1 win over Portland. On the flip side, though, San Diego enters after earning its first win in three weeks after a 2-0 road victory over Kansas City.
Houston overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat the Thorns at home on Saturday, 2-1, breaking its run of poor home results in 2023. In all NWSL competitions, the Dash had lost eight straight home games when trailing at half time and had not won any of their previous 18 home games when losing entering the second half, dating back to 2018. The victory over Portland was only the club’s second victory of the season (D3 L2), but their two losses have all come within the last three weeks.
San Diego scored twice in the first half of its 2-0 road win against Kansas City, marking the team’s first time scoring in the first half of a road game this season. Prior to Sunday’s win, the Wave had not scored a first-half goal in a road regular season game since September 10 of last season against Washington. Of its four matches away from home this season, San Diego has collected six points (W2 L2).
San Diego swept its two games against the Dash last season, including a 1-0 road win when the Wave visited Houston in last season’s league opener. That is one of the Wave’s seven regular season road shutouts since the beginning of last season, two more than any other NWSL team in that time.
