HOUSTON – The Houston Dash earned a 2-2 draw against Bay FC Saturday night at Shell Energy Stadium, with substitute Messiah Bright coming to the rescue late. Here are three things from Houston’s draw vs. Bay FC.
Patterson strikes
Defender Avery Patterson could had opened the scoring early in the game. But her left-footed shot from the center of the box was saved in the top center of the goal by Jordan Silkowitz. She redeemed herself 20 minutes later, taking a pass from Bárbara Olivieri and burying it with a left-footed shot from outside the box to the top left corner for the 1-0 lead and her second goal of the season.
Dash coach Fabrice Gautrat is happy with how Patterson’s been performing.
“She can strike with both feet. She’s one of our more dangerous players,” Gautrat said. “When she goes at people one on one, especially as a defender, she creates havoc, and she’s shown that she can score from a lot of different angles. She’s a big part of what we do.”
Patterson said scoring is an indescribable feeling. She said it’s a dopamine rush that is hard to replicate.
However, Bay FC caught the Dash sleeping in the second half, scoring two goals in three minutes, for a 2-1 lead.
“We came out strong. I think after we scored, we got a bit complacent,” Patterson said. “We started getting more numbers behind the ball rather than trying to get a second one. But props to Messiah, and our entire team in the second half for being able to pull out another one.”
Gautrat agreed
“One thing we told our players was, if you look at everything leading up to our first goal, there’s some really good spells of football, and then as soon as we score, we kind of like start retreating. Just talked about the mentality piece, and we have to keep believing that we can play that way and not be surprised by that. So that was just something we talked about internally,” Gautrat said.
Alozie and Duljan draw first starts
Michelle Alozie and Evelina Duljan made their first starts of the season on Saturday. Swedish international Duljan signed with Houston back in February after a short stint at Orlando Pride. The 22-year-old made her season debut against Washington Spirit on March 15 and has been picking up the pace since. She played a season-high 45 minutes vs. Bay FC.
Alozie made her first start after coming off the bench seven times so far. She played a season-high 59 minutes before coach Gautrat replaced her for Bright, which ended up being the right call.
“Evelina is a very good player for us. She had a little injury, so it’s just kind of, you know, worked her way back, but she’s a really good pocket player, good football player. Comes from overseas, and we’re excited to try to get her back in the mix,” Gautrat said.
“And then we felt Michelle has been coming off the bench quite well with stretching the last line and all that, so we felt she deserved a go. And I thought she had a really good first half.”
Bright nets first goal
Forward Messiah Bright scored her first goal of the regular season, helping the Dash equalize the game 2-2 in the 88th minute. She took a pass from Olivieri and scored with a left-footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner.
Bright arrived late January after Angel City traded her to Houston in exchange for intra-league transfer funds and cash.
Gautrat is so happy for Bright, who has logged 10 approaches so far.
“She’s been putting in a lot of work, and I think for her to get that goal the way she did, the way she drilled at the front foot of the defender, got her off balance and put it away, like I couldn’t be happier for her,” he said. “Really, she’s earned it.”
Bright was ready for the moment.
“What’s funny is I always remind myself that I’m going to score. I mean, there’s been some games where I haven’t, but just speaking that into fruition every single time, giving myself positive reinforcement because the power of the tongue,” Bright said.
“When the moment presents itself, I’m going to try to be prepared as much as I can. And in that moment, we were down already a goal. So I think that was the perfect example to stay composed in a tough situation and do what I know that I can do, put my team back in the game.”
With the draw, Houston fell to 12th in the NWSL standings through 10 games with 11 points, one point behind Bay FC. The Dash visit Orlando Pride at 6 pm, June 11 at Orlando.