After a long Olympic break (and the less said of it, the better), we're back for one make-up game this Thursday. The Houston Dash host the Washington Spirit. Kelsey Wys and Bianca Henninger are the keepers. Here's the game. The first few minutes looked like the league had been out of action for awhile, as the passing was a bit sloppy. In the third minute, Kealia Ohai had a cross that just missed Melissa Henderson and Chioma Ubogagu of Houston in the first good chance of the game. Cami Privett broke up a Washington attack against Katie Stengel in the fourth minute. Ubogagu took a ball from Caity Heap and took a shot in the eighth minute, but Estelle Johnson of the Spirit made the block. Cari Roccaro of the Dash cleared a Cheyna Williams cross in the ninth minute, and then Roccaro cleared the second effort as well. Amber Brooks broke up the next Washington attack, sliding the ball out for a corner after Williams lost control. Nairn took two corner kicks in quick succession, with the Spirit series ending on a Tori Huster shot. Williams made a foray forward in the fourteenth minute, but Moros made the stop for the Dash. In the sixteenth minute, Ohai danced into the box and fired a shot on goal that Wys saved. Katie Stengel took a cross from Caprice Dydasco and headed it wide in the nineteenth minute. Williams fired a shot high for the Spirit in the twenty-first minute, and then a second shot from Joanna Lohman was saved by Henninger. On the Houston attack, Ohai fired a shot wide left. Cali Farquharson took a shot in the twenty-fifth minute. Privett broke up an attack from Williams in the twenty-fifth minute. Ali Krieger put a ball over the top and out for the Spirit in the twenty-sixth minute. Christine Nairn went down hurt in the box, but did not draw a call on the play, causing a bit of a delay. Moros' cross in the twenty-ninth minute was blocked out by Huster for Washington. Privett fouled Williams in the box in the thirtieth minute, creating a penalty kick for the Spirit. Nairn came back on to take the penalty kick and scored, making it 1-0 for the Spirit. In the thirty-second minute, Farquharson sent a shot just wide for Washington. The Spirit played head tennis in the box on a thirty-third minute, as Nairn served it in and Stengel, Lohman, and then Stengel again combined for a shot that Henninger saved near the line. Lohman's shot at the thirty-four minute mark went wide left. Ellie Brush blocked a Stengel shot in the thirty-fifth minute. O'Sullivan blocked a cross out for a Washington corner kick. Nairn took this set piece, which Privett cleared as far as Dydasco, who sent a shot way over the bar. Ohai had a cross for Ubogagu in the thirty-ninth minute, but the shot was well wide for the Dash. Privett cleared a Krieger free kick in the fortieth minute, and Nairn's second effort shot went way over the bar. Ohai made a deep run in the forty-fifth minute, but her cross was too strong for Henderson. In stoppage time, Huster fired a shot to end a chaotic sequence in the Houston box that saw Brush block a cross from Krieger after Lohman failed to get a shot off against Roccaro. The game went into halftime at 1-0, with the Spirit's top players being RB Krieger, DCM Huster, LW Nairn, RF Williams, and CF Stengel. For the Dash, the top players were CBs Roccaro and Brush, LW Ohai, ACM Denise O'Sullivan, and striker Ubogagu. In the forty-seventh minute, Ubogagu and Ohai went with a give-and-go, with Johnson blocking Ubogagu's shot and Krieger getting the final clearance on the play for the Spirit. Williams had a low cross for Washington that Houston's Brush cleared in the forty-eighth minute. Ubogagu had a forty-ninth minute shot from the Dash that went low and left. Whitney Church blocked an Ohai cross in the fiftieth minute, as Houston has come out of the break with a bit of urgency. Privett surrendered a corner kick after battling with Farquharson in the fifty-first minute. Nairn took the corner kick, going for Williams but cleared by Privett. Farquharson got the second chance and fired a shot through traffic which Henninger saved. Stengel, Williams, and Krieger aligned for a chance that Krieger shot over the bar. Ohai's fifty-third minute shot came from a tough angle and forced Wys into a save to keep Washington ahead. Privett had a cross caught by Wys in the fifty-fifth minute. Henderson's through ball for Ubogagu was picked up by Wys just in time. Nairn's free kick in the fifty-seventh minute went wide left. Roccaro shut down Williams in the fifty-eighth minute as the Spirit continuing to make piercing runs in the offensive third. O'Sullivan fired a shot low and on target in the fifty-ninth minute, but Wys made the save on the good effort from Houston's midfielder. Stephanie Ochs had a pair of crosses blocked by Huster and Dydasco in the sixtieth minute. Krieger helped to break up a shot by Ohai that fell to Ubogagu, who fired a shot off of Houston teammate Tessa Florio. Washington quickly struck back, as Nairn buried a shot from far out as Henninger cheated off her line, and the Spirit earned a 2-0 lead. Ohai won a corner kick off of Krieger in the sixty-fifth minute. Ochs took the set piece for Houston, but Church headed it out. O'Sullivan fired a second shot in, which bounced off of Ubogagu and was cleared by the Spirit. Ohai crossed a ball in for Florio, but the play was offside and Wys had it covered. Ohai and Krieger went into battle again, which Church ultimately cleared, and then Amber Brooks sent a ball in and wide of goal in the sixty-seventh minute. Ubogagu had a shot deflect off of Huster but it was too weak to truly threaten Wys, who picked it up with no trouble in the sixty-ninth minute. Spirit sub Alyssa Kleiner made a run and fired a shot wide left in the seventy-third minute as the game has slowed a bit. In the seventy-fifth minute, Privett took a yellow card for a foul on Washington sub Francisca Ordega. Ohai had a cross in the seventy-sixth minute, and Brooks headed it out of Wys' hands, but Dydasco booted it out for a corner kick. Ochs served in, and Kleiner sent it for another corner kick. This time, Ochs went too long and the Spirit cleared. Ohai had a cross through traffic that Brooks just missed getting a foot on in the seventy-ninth minute. Ohai had a shot saved by Wys on the next Dash attack. Dydasco and Kleiner tried crosses in the eighty-first minute, but the Houston defense held. Another Dydasco cross was caught by Henninger. Brooks tried a long shot that went wide left in the eighty-third minute, although Wys was off her line. Line Sigvardsen Jensen and Nairn began a sequence that ended with Ordega's shot straight at Henninger in the eighty-fifth minute. Ubogagu had a shot blocked in the eighty-eighth minute, with the Spirit in a defensive bunker. Ohai had a cross go long and out for a goal kick. Privett's eighty-ninth minute cross was caught by Wys. In the ninetieth minute, Ochs got the ball on the right wing and crossed it Ohai, who buried it. O'Sullivan's stoppage time cross was blocked. Brush fouled Ordega, earning a yellow card for the Dash defender. Florio fired a shot wide left. The game ended 2-1 for Washington, with Nairn the Outsider Sports Woman of the Match. Also impressing in the second half were Spirit GK Wys and Dash RW sub Ochs.
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