Houston Dash hold on to 4-3 road win North Carolina

The Houston Dash scored three goals in the opening six minutes of the second half enroute to their third road win of the year 4-3 over the NC Courage. The win moved Houston into third place in the NWSL standings three points off the pace of league leading San Diego Wave.

Houston earned the win off the foot of Elizabeth Eddy. Eddy scored twice in the first six minutes of the second half to give the Dash a 3-1 lead. Nichelle Prince added the third goal of the half coming in the 51st minute. Prince's goal turned out to be the game winner. Prince and Eddy had similar responses when asked to talk about their goals in the match. In fact their response for the most part came down to one word. "Exciting."

Just like the first match, Houston trailed early on a goal by NCC's Denise O'Sullivan. The former Dash mid-fielder found the back of the net on a one time touch from 25 yards out in the sixth minute of play. Houston answered back nine minutes later as Maria Sanchez unmarked sent a ball from Shea Groom rocketing inside the near post. Houston never looked back.

Dash interim head coach Sarah Lowdon continues to push all the right buttons as the Dash are unbeaten on the road this season and have recorded just two losses. With th win Houston remains a point shy of Chicago and three points off the pace of the league leading San Diego Wave. Following the match, she expounded on the key element of this team that has this team contending for the top spot.

“Just the resiliency, that's something we talked about. We have a group here that, you know, they understand that things are going to hit the fan. The nicest way to put it and they understand that there is some suffering in this game, and you have to weather the storms and the the grit and the buy-in and they fight together.

Houston's 4-3 win not only assured the team of having their best record at break since their inception but Carolina had never lost when scoring at least three goals. The Dash enter the break with a record of 4W-3D-2L

The Dash's success according to Lowdon is really simple. They have done whatever it has taken to execute the game plan and they are reaping the rewards.

"I think a lot of teams would have been written off and they've been brilliant. They've done everything. We've asked them and more. It's just being blue collar, They just play for each other and when you've got a group like that, there's no ceiling. We shouldn't put a fictitious ceiling on this team. I think they're a great group. They're a solid group on and off the field to work with."