Playoff aim alive in closing stretch
The goal all season for the Dash has been to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, and with six games to go, they have a great opportunity to do that.
The final quarter of the regular season begins Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. when the Dash (6-7-5, 23 points) travel to Kentucky to face Racing Louisville (49-5, 17 points).
Sunday’s game is one of three remaining the Dash have against bottom-half teams. The other three are against Portland and North Carolina — two of the top three teams in the league. The Dash know they are capable of beating those top teams, but their path to the postseason would be easier if they beat Louisville on Sunday and then Kansas City and Washington in October.
“It’s a tough run-in, especially with the teams that are around us, such as Kansas, Louisville and Washington,” Dash coach James Clarkson said. “If we don’t want to put ourselves in a situation where we’re forced to beat Portland twice and North Carolina, these are the games that we really have to be on top form, take it to them and really try to find ways to win.
“The players know that. They know what this weekend is about and how important it is.”
In order to get over the playoff hump, the Dash will have to get out of their current skid in which they have won only once in their last eight games. The last two results — both ties — have been especially painful.
The Dash scored first in games against the Orlando Pride and the Chicago Red Stars but conceded late goals and settled for a share of the points. If those four dropped points were added to the Dash’s total, they would be sitting above the playoff line in fifth place
rather than below it in eighth place.
“We want to keep clean sheets,” Clarkson said. “It makes things easier for us, but through this season we haven’t been able to keep enough of them. We haven’t scored enough goals where we should have.
“When we played (Louisville) here a few weeks ago, we had enough chances in the second half to win that game comfortably (but only won 1-0).
“When we were away the first time, we played and they beat us 1-0, the game should have been finished before halftime. It’s not that we haven’t been creating the chances. It’s a bit more of the quality in front of the goal, a bit more calmness.”
A bit more calmness could go a long way the rest of the season. It might help them kick the habit of dropping points.
There have been some good moments this season, but the overall theme seems to be that the Dash are perpetually trying to put disappointment behind them.
Until now, it’s always been easy to lean on the fact that there are plenty of games left to get things right.
With so few matches remaining, though, it’s time to start winning.
“We are all hungry,” defender Allysha Chapman said. “There is some frustration with how the results have been going. It is still in our hands. We still have a huge opportunity to make it to the playoffs because the table is too tight right now.”