The Houston Dash are preparing for their season to start on July 1 in Utah with a goal of building team chemistry after a time of limited workouts because of the cornavirus pandemic.
“I think it has been difficult this year because we have come in during the quarantine,” forward Rachel Daly said in early June. “This is the first week I have officially met some people.”
The National Women's Soccer League season was initially scheduled to begin in mid-April. But like MLS and other sports leagues, the NWSL suspended its season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recently announced plans to start its season through the 25-game Challenge Cup tournament 22 miles south of Salt Lake City.
After parting ways with some of its most notable players including former captain Kealia Ohai Watt this offseason, the Dash continued adding new players into late May.
The team would have entered the preseason expecting growing pains under normal circumstances. Instead, the pandemic erased the league’s preseason and restricted Houston from holding full team trainings for three months until June 1.
“This is my fourth season with the club and I truly feel like this year has felt different,” forward Nichelle Prince said. “Obviously we haven’t been together for too long but I feel like our chemistry is very strong. We have done so much over this pandemic to stay connected.”
While quarantined, the team used Zoom for regular calls, meetings and guest speakers, and several players attended a march in honor of George Floyd together.
The time off gave Prince and forward Veronica Latsko extra time to rebound from knee injuries. Daly and goalkeeper Jane Campbell were named team captains on Thursday.
“The team chemistry is huge,” Campbell said. “(The Challenge Cup will) be super quick and…When stuff hits the fan in the middle of the game or maybe off the field in the (NWSL) village, we’re all going to have to come together and be a group and one unit.”
On Tuesday, the team learned its full schedule for the tournament, which will stream live on CBS All Access.
Houston opens the tournament against North Carolina Courage (July 1); followed by Sky Blue FC (July 5), Chicago Red Stars (July 9) and Washington Spirit (July 13).
Two-time defending champion North Carolina topped the league standings last season. Chicago finished second and now features Ohai Watt up front. Washington finished fifth and Sky Blue FC finished eighth, a spot below Houston, in 2019.
“It’s go time,” defender Megan Oyster said. “You get four games guaranteed but after that it’s just playoffs. I think everything is just expedited and that’s how it is right now.”
Dash coach James Clarkson enters his second year with the team, which went 7-12-5 in 2019.
Those seven wins were a step back from a team-record nine the year before, but Clarkson has introduced a stability that eluded the team, which had not maintained a single coach for more than a year since 2017.
He sees strong team chemistry as a key to winning in the Challenge Cup.
“I think you see how when people do come together great things can happen,” Clarkson said. “We are really coming together as a team and hopefully great things will happen for us.”
glynn.hill@chron.com
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