Caprice Dydasco assesses her move to Houston

What a crazy few days for Caprice Dydasco, the 2021 NWSL Defender of the Year. On Wednesday night, she was still a member of the NY/NJ Gotham FC. She did not feature against Houston but remained in town becoming by Friday a part of the Houston Dash. On Friday, she along with interim head coach Juan Carlos Amoros spoke to the media.

Caprice (Dydasco) is a player we've been following for a long time," said Amoros. "Obviously, she was the (NWSL) Defender of the Year last season. To be honest, it was a very easy one, because we wanted her to join us. From the beginning she was very open to join a club like the Houston Dash. The reports we had from the pitch were fantastic, the reports from her as a person, has tons of experience. She's a good person to have in the locker room. Very, very pleased for her to be joining us and to embrace the project that we're having here at the Dash.”

Dydasco had started all 13 games for Gotham before the trade. Dydasco is expected to be able to step and bolster the Houston backline whether a starter or a sub.

“That's the kind of player we want," continued Amoros. "We want people that understand their role defensively and on an individual basis, partnerships and as a unit. She's done it
with all the players. On the defensive aspect, it is a lot about the individual, about your relationship with others. She's very good with that. Some work that we will do with her. We want to have people that are confident that make good decisions under pressure. That can even be key to winning football games. She can do that on that side of things as well. When you're a defender and you can bring all those things to the table, that is what we're looking for. I believe that she's the right person to be joining us at this moment in time.”

The 19th overall pick of the 2015 NWSL draft was ecstatic about the opportunity to play for Houston.

"I'm definitely excited for this opportunity and step my career," began Dydasco. "I'm really excited just to go out there and have fun. Play the style of soccer I like to play, which is very possession oriented. I love having people around, to combine with and I love getting higher up the field. Knowing that I have such amazing, dynamic attackers to work with, just makes me really excited. Learning from being in the backline and the different ways that they defend, the way they want to build out. It's just going to involve me as a player just learning different systems from different coaches.”

The 29 year old celebrated her birthday by becoming a member of the Houston Dash and talking about her first training session with the club on Friday.

“In playing against the Houston Dash and just watching their games, I think they play very attractive soccer. It's something that I'm excited to be a part of. They have very dangerous attackers that I'm excited to play with. They have a strong defensive unit that has been very cohesive this season. I want to try to blend in seamlessly and try to help this team be more successful and share the knowledge that I've acquired throughout my time in this league. I just want to help them be better in any way I can.” 

Dydasco brings a wealth of experience to the team not just from having played in the league for six seasons but also for playoff experience. Few will forget her torn ACL injury in the 2016 NWSL Championship game.

“This team has done really well with being dangerous with their chances on goal and I think that's what it comes down to in this league. Everyone's really good, but how are we composed, and going to break down the defensive line. This team has done very good with different ways of scoring, not only from on the dribble transition, I think they're very good tactically and technically. They're well coached and organized in the way they want to break down teams. I'm really excited to be a part of their attack and try to bring in my skills, like crosses and try to be more dynamic up top and more versatile within our positioning. I just want to bring my experience and leadership as well."

The outside back will be available for selection tonight with San Diego. Kick-off is slated for 9:00pm CT.