Respect still being sought
Entering Challenge Cup opener, champs out to prove title run not a fluke
The Dash are the reigning National Women’s Soccer League Challenge Cup champions, but coach James Clarkson said he is not convinced his squad is getting the respect it deserves.
In fact, Clarkson has been sprinkling in a little bit of that underdog vibe throughout the 10-week preseason. He repeated it during a video conference call with media Thursday afternoon to preview Friday’s Challenge Cup opener against the Chicago Red Stars at BBVA Stadium.
The Dash defeated the Red Stars in the final of last year’s inaugural Challenge Cup to finish off a threegame run of knockout games in which they did not concede a goal. They followed that with a highscoring runner-up finish in the Fall Series, but Clarkson said it was not enough to stop outsiders from underestimating his team ahead of the 2021 season.
“I think there is still an element of, ‘We were lucky,’” Clarkson said. “We have to prove that it wasn’t luck. There is still an attitude and a bite about the team to prove people wrong.”
The Challenge Cup opener is the Dash’s first chance to do so. The league’s 10 teams are divided into two divisions with each team playing four pool play games. The winner of each division will advance to the final on May 8.
Friday’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. The Dash are allowing 30 percent capacity at home games early in the season, which means a maximum of 6,500 tickets will be sold.
The Dash will be missing six top players because of international duty. Goalkeeper Jane Campbell and midfielder Kristie Mewis are with the U.S. women’s national team. Forward Nichelle Prince, midfielder Sophie Schmidt and defender Allysha Chapman are with Canada. Forward Rachel Daly is with England.
Chicago will be without defender Julie Ertz and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who are with the USWNT. Instead, the Red Stars will be led by former Dash stars Kealia Watt and Morgan Brian.
Watt and Brian were
with the Dash during the lean years. In the Dash’s first six seasons between 2014 and 2019, they never had a winning record and never finished better than fifth in the league standings.
The club went through two full-time coaches and one interim head coach during the first five seasons. With so much instability, players often expressed their frustrations and most who left for other teams were happy to do so.
It was especially difficult for the Dash to attract top American talent and keep it, with USWNT stars Carli Lloyd and Christen Press at the forefront of those issues during the offseason between the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Lloyd requested a trade and had it granted by thencoach Vera Pauw. In that trade, the Dash acquired Press, but Press refused to report to Houston and never played a game for the club.
Now that he is in charge, Clarkson said he is proud that players want to be in Houston. Defender Katie Naughton, who was acquired from Chicago in a trade before the 2020 season, has raved about the environment the Dash have created under Clarkson.
Resources like food prepared by a chef, physical trainers, chiropractors, massage therapists and sports psychologists seem like obvious things for a professional franchise to have, but the Dash often struggled to provide for their players off the field in their early years.
“(We have) pretty much everything we would ever want,” Naughton said. “We still have a long way to go in other aspects as far as league standards, but I do believe we are definitely headed in the right direction. There are things being done in Houston that we’re really excited about.”
That includes their prospects on the field this year
— both in the Challenge Cup and in the 24-game regular season schedule that follows.
A big reason for that is the continuity of the frontline talent and the depth Clarkson has acquired. Every starter from last year’s Challenge Cup final is back this season.
Some of them will watch as the club raises their 2020 championship banner before Friday’s game, and then they’ll get to work trying to win all three points from Chicago.
Because as far as the reigning champs are concerned, they still have something to prove.
“I don’t think the mentality of the players has changed,” Clarkson said. “Certainly, when I look at them, their application and their work at training are exactly the same, and (they have) that hunger and that desire to want to be successful.
“I don’t look at (winning the 2020 Challenge Cup) as a one-off, but it still makes us laugh when people do underestimate us. Hopefully, we can continue to cause a few shocks.”