Seattle Reign FC 1
Houston Dash 0
NWSL Regular Season – June 12, 2016
Seattle, WA – Memorial Stadium
Reign midfielder Havana Solaun being chased down by Dash defender Allysha Chapman.
Seattle and Houston emerged from the brief international break to get back to NWSL play at Memorial Stadium on a warm and muggy Sunday afternoon.
The early game saw good ball movement and player rotations. Seattle especially had Bev Yanez and Merritt Mathias switching off up top and wide, with Havana Solaun on the right flank and the usual grouping in the midfield and back four. Houston seemed content to chase and counter early, still without the presence of Carli Lloyd. Morgan Brian and the returning Amber Brooks held steady in the midfield and created some opportunities on the counter for their forwards.
Much of the first half followed the same pattern, with Seattle building up and Houston playing smart counters with a few long range shots to test the veteran Solo in goal. Nearing the half, Seattle strung together a number of good opportunities on goal, with the Houston D weathering the pressure and holding shape.
When the goal finally came for Seattle, it was a Havana Solaun cannon from just outside the box beating Houston keeper Lydia Williams. Williams had been stellar up to that point, only a moment earlier pushing a Keelin Winters header over the post, and really could not do much about the goal given the way Solaun struck the ball.
NWSL sides seem to have taken the approach of absorb and chase, press a little, and counter against a very patient Seattle side. Seattle has a lot of the ball and gets forward consistently, but just is not getting the clear looks they got the past few seasons. Without a goal scoring levy bursting, it is not surprising that teams keep playing against the Reign FC this way.
It would have been interesting to have Carli Lloyd play her first match back from injury facing Keelin Winters on the Memorial Stadium field turf, but that didn’t seem likely and didn’t happen.
Seattle Reign FC
