Familiar face awaits Dash in final
The Dash felt they needed to part ways with one of their most popular and visible players — forward Kealia Ohai Watt — in order to reshape the team’s identity and progress into a playoff team.
The Dash will have to go through Ohai Watt and the Chicago Red Stars in order to win their first NWSL championship in Sunday’s Challenge Cup final at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.
“We’re writing this underdog story, but all along we’ve been telling ourselves that we can do this,” goalkeeper Jane Campbell said. “For us, we’re not really focusing on the outside chatter.”
It’s been six months since the Dash acquired defender Katie Naughton and a second-round draft pick in exchange for Ohai Watt, who’d slipped from her form in 2016, when she was named to the NWSL Best XI after scoring 11 goals that season. She’s scored nine goals in more than 50 games since.
Into Ohai Watt’s void stepped burgeoning league talents.
The tournament has enabled forward Rachel Daly to transform into the league’s leading scorer — tied with North Carolina’s Lynn Williams with three goals.
Kristie Mewis has reasserted her ability to facilitate the attack through the midfield, and Canadian international Nichelle Prince consistently created chances in the Dash’s semifinal victory over the Portland Thorns on Wednesday.
Bolstering that growth were seasoned attackers Shea Groom and Katie Stengel, who have combined for two goals and two assists since joining the team in early 2020.
The Dash have gone from the second-lowest scoring team in the league in 2019 to the second highest.
Their new-look attack has provided a crucial boost, but the defense has also elevated the team into Sunday’s final. Naughton and Campbell have helped earn three shutouts including a victory on penalty kicks in the quarterfinal.
“I still don’t think we’re getting the recognition we deserve,” coach James Clarkson said. “We’ve kept three clean sheets in six games, we’ve scored the (second-)most goals, we’ve got the leading goal scorer on our team and we’re still not very good apparently.”
Much like Ohai Watt, Chicago entered the tournament looking to show it can score consistently. It scored just two goals before its 3-2 victory over Sky Blue FC in the semifinal. Ohai Watt has generated two shots on goal in four games played.
But Sunday’s match is hardly about teammates past.
The Challenge Cup has been the Dash’s vehicle to exercise its own demons and forge a new identity into the future for a franchise that has never made the playoffs before this season’s new tournament format, created in response to the coronavirus pandemic delaying the regular season.
And in a year when outside veterans coalesced with career Dash players, Clarkson hopes a Challenge Cup title can attract the type of players to help the Dash win more titles.
“In order for us to be successful we’ve got to have an attitude, we’ve got to work for one another and we’ve got to fight and scrap for everything, and I think you’ve seen that throughout the tournament,” Clarkson said.
Former forward Ohai Watt, now with Chicago, stands in way of franchise’s first championship