Dunn’s Goal Defeats Dash to Keep Pace Near Top of NWSL
The Washington Spirit, Germantown’s professional sports franchise, continued their home unbeaten streak at the Maryland SoccerPlex on Saturday with a 1-0 victory over the Houston Dash avenging the season-opening loss. It was Crystal Dunn who scored the lone goal in the 56th minute.
After a physical first half, which tested the Spirit backline of veteran Tori Huster and rookie Caprice Dydasco, who was making her first professional start. Huster had missed three games prior to the Women’s World Cup break due to injury.
The second half, the Spirit came out attacking and controlled most of the game. In the 46th minute, Huster sent a hard shot at the Dash goal, but a defender standing on the goal line cleared the ball.
Spirit attackers Dunn, Laura Del Rio, Angela Salem, and Johanna Lohman applied pressure to the Dash back line throughout the second half. It was Dunn who was able to rocket a shot into the back of the net.
Dunn stole the ball and with her left foot booted a shot in the top left corner of the goal, which careened off the post and into the back of the net. It was Dunn’s seventh goal in 10 games. She continues to be the National Women’s Soccer League’s top goal scorer for 2015.
The lead and victory were preserved by Spirit keeper, Kelsey Wys, who has done an outstanding job stepping in for Ashlyn Harris while Harris plays with the United States Women’s National Team in the FIFA World Cup. In the 83rd minute, Wyss stopped a shot from the Dash’s Kealia Ohai from the top or the eighteen box to save the shutout and win.
The win gives the Spirit three points and keeps them very much in playoff contention as the half-way point of the 2015 season. The Spirit are tied for second place with 17 points with the Seattle Reign FC and one point behind the Chicago Red Stars.
Next week the Spirit (5-3-2, 17 points) will travel to Kansas City to take on an FCKC team (3-5-2, 11 points) which comes off a 2-1 loss to Seattle last week.
Captions:
Top: Spirit attacker Crystal Dunn running with the ball at her feet.
Next: Spirit goalkeeper Kelsey Wys (18) grabs a ball out of the air to help preseve the 1-0 Spirit victory.
Photos courtesy of The Washington Spirit Fan FaceBook Page.
