Win overshadowed by recent ‘struggles’
On any other night, the Dash would have celebrated one of the franchise’s greatest victories.
Wednesday, however, the on-field result didn’t matter. The players hurt too much to be happy about anything.
Rachel Daly scored two goals, including the winner on a header in the 79th minute, to deliver a 3-2 victory for the Dash over the first-place Portland Thorns at Providence Park in Portland, Ore.
It’s their second win at Portland in team history and vaults them above the playoff line, but it’s what happened in Portland six years ago that made an otherwise monumental result nothing more than a footnote.
In 2015, former Portland players Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly accused their former head coach Paul Riley of sexual coercion and other abuse, but their claims largely were ignored by the organization at the time.
In 2021, Shim and Farrelly told the NWSL league office about Riley’s actions and again essentially were ignored. Those details emerged in a story published Thursday by the Athletic.
Friday, Riley was fired from his post as coach of the North Carolina Courage, the league’s weekend games were postponed and NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird was fired. The fallout has been harsh and swift as the players took time to reflect on a hectic week that included other coaches losing their jobs because of abusive behavior.
The league reconvened Wednesday night with three games. In all three games, the players from both teams joined at the center circle with their arms around one another in the sixth minute. Doing so in the sixth minute symbolized the six years it took for Shim’s and Farrelly’s concerns to be taken seriously.
“It’s been a very heavy week for everyone, especially the players, and we wanted to shed light on the struggles that we’ve been going through, both on and off the field,” Dash defender Katie Naughton said in a statement following the game. “One player will not shoulder this work alone. We all carry it together. There’s no accountability without transparency and action. We will finish what Kaiya (McCullough), Mana, Sinead and others have started.
“We demand that every club, coach and owner undergo an investigation. We recommend that they volunteer to do so. The NWSL and each club should cooperate with the PA’s (Player Association's) own investigation. We are not bringing the NWSL down.
In doing so, we are rebuilding it into what we know it can and should be. We believe in our bones we can do this.”
The Dash (8-7-5, 29 points) didn’t have any training sessions and had no other preparation for Wednesday’s game. They met as a team Sunday night and traveled to Portland on Monday. Tuesday, they did their usual warmup to get loose, but that was it.
Coach James Clarkson said it didn’t feel right to put them through the regular routine when that was far from their minds.
The Dash will be back in action Sunday night with a home game against North Carolina, and then on Oct. 13, they’ll travel to Kansas City to make up the game they missed last weekend.
Wednesday’s win over the Thorns (12-6-2, 38 points) puts them in good position to make the playoffs for the first time in club history, but that’s far from their minds right now.
“Things have to get better for them because they’re special,” Clarkson said. “Both teams. It was a proper game of football tonight. The fans were amazing. This is why everybody has to do everything to make this league better, to protect the players, because without the players it’s nothing.
“It’s important that things get better, and we do everything in our power - all of us — to make things better for these players because they thoroughly deserve it.”