Mental attitude improving heading into road test
Defense looking for its third clean sheet in a row
The game-winning goal had been scored a half hour earlier, and the visitors had buried the Dash 10 minutes after that.
Despite their fourgoal deficit in the dying moments of their home game on June 17, the Dash pressed forward in search of a goal.
They scored one and then another. With the first coming in the 89th minute and the second on the final kick of the game, the goals by Poliana and Nichelle Prince did not seem to do much except make the final margin easier to stomach.
Instead of losing to Orlando by four goals, the Dash lost by two.
The effort, however, is what the Dash say is a sign that — like their warm-up jerseys declare — they’re not dead. They can’t quit.
The Dash (3-7-1) followed that home loss to Orlando with a 2-0 road victory over Orlando. Then they played to a 0-0 draw at home against the Boston Breakers on Wednesday. That gave them back-toback positive results for the first time this season.
Their next game, Sunday night at FC Kansas City (3-4-4), is another opportunity for them to prove they eventually will be a playoff contender.
“I’ve been harping on the fact that you can drum up excuses and blame this and blame that and that it was hot or that we had a change of coach,” midfielder Carli Lloyd said. “There are many things you can come up with, but at the end of the day the NWSL is all about grinding it out and fighting to that final whistle.
“I think that it is a mentality shift knowing that we have the players and having each other’s back and get the job done. Overall, I think it’s positive with our team. We’re going in the right direction and we have to keep our foot on that pedal.”
The Dash had their foot on the pedal against Boston but struggled to create anything dangerous in the attacking third. The Dash’s troubles grew late in the game when their legs began to tire. Most of the players had played the majority of the previous game four days earlier.
Sunday’s game in Kansas City will be the third in eight days. That will complicate matters if the Dash have to chase the game in the final 20 minutes or so.
Luckily for the Dash, the defense has improved. It is coming off consecutive clean sheets for the first time this season. It is one piece of evidence interim coach Omar Morales uses to prove the Dash are moving in the right direction.
“We’re growing,” Morales said. “We’re getting used to me as a coach, and the players are getting their confidence back up. Since those two goals against Orlando at home we’ve been the better team in both games. We just have to put the ball in the back of the net to get some reward for those performances.”