Ebony Salmon's hat trick powers the Houston Dash to a 4-1 win

Interim head coach Juan Carlos Amoros' Houston Dash and NWSL debut could not have gone any better. Five days after conducting his first training session in Houston, the Houston Dash posted a dominating 4-1 win over the visiting Chicago Red Stars. The win snapped a two game losing streak for Houston and kept them in fourth place in the NWSL table pending the OL Reign's result on Sunday evening July 17th.

Houston entered the match short-handed with players on international duty and goalkeeper Jane Campbell and defender Julia Ashley in COVID 19 protocol. The Dash never missed a beat as back up keeper Lindsay Harris recorded four saves and Ebony Salmon powered home three goals. The clean sheet was lost in the 88th minute.

Salmon, who recorded the second hat trick in franchise history and the first in her career got things started in the 11th minute of play. Shea Groom forced a turnover and fed Salmon a perfectly placed ball and the young forward finished for a 1-0 lead.

The English native got the brace in the first minute of first half stoppage time to give Houston a two goal cushion going into the locker room. She had previously been denied on a great 1v1 effort from Chicago keeper Emily Boyd five minutes earlier.

Just before the hour mark Ryan Gareis delivered a pass to Salmon that finished a counter and made it three nil Houston. Joelle Anderson completed the scoring with her first career goal in the 90th minute plus three. Houston now has two of the three NWSL hat tricks in 2022. Nichelle Prince has the other for the Dash.

Houston snapped Chicago's nine game unbeaten streak. The Red Stars had defeated Houston twice in the 2022 Challenge Cup.

The Houston Dash return to action with Road contest on Sunday July 24th against NJ/NY Gotham FC at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.