Not even an hour after the team’s first training session of 2015, managing director Brian Ching laid out his expectations for the Houston Dash in their second season: make the playoffs.
“I think that’s a realistic goal looking at the team Randy and myself have assembled,” Ching said at the season-opening press conference at Houston Sports Park. “We’re looking to kick it off in a big way here.”
The club’s inaugural season, which kicked off just four months after its existence was announced, was a learning process for Ching, head coach Randy Waldrum, and many of the players. The effort was there, but the experience and final touch was not as the team finished at the bottom of the standings.
“I think that group—with the exception of three games—I thought we were in every single game with that group,” Waldrum said. “It was hard to make changes, but Brian and I knew we had to get better.”
So the changes came—starting with the blockbuster trade in October for U.S. Women’s National Team star midfielder Carli Lloyd. Waldrum and Ching selected rising USWNT midfielder Morgan Brian with the No. 1 overall pick at the NWSL College Draft, and received defender Allysha Chapman via allocation from the Canadian Soccer Association. Through trades and signings the duo brought in veterans Rachael Axon, Niki Cross, Jessica McDonald and Ashley Nick, then capped the busy offseason with the signing of Puskás Award runner-up and Irish international forward Stephanie Roche.
In all, including fourth-round draft pick Carleigh Williams, nine new players have been added to the Dash roster. That doesn’t even include the return of Lauren Sesselmann, who didn't play a minute of the NWSL season after an ACL tear, and Brittany Bock, who only managed 23 minutes more than Sesselmann before her ACL gave way.
With the changes comes the expectation that the players, both new and old, will go out and create the winning product on the field. Perhaps a daunting task for a group that was left wanting for the final result last year, but they’re not backing down.
“I think it’s definitely realistic and I think the girls that we have, that we’ve brought together this year, no one’s afraid of that expectation put onto us,” Dash forward Kealia Ohai said of the goal of playoffs. “We have such great facilities, a great staff, great players that have all come together, so … we should be held to that standard.”
Despite joking that Ching put him under pressure right off the bat to start the season, Waldrum didn’t shy away from the challenge. Instead he pointed out that both he and Ching—and many of the players from their college careers—were accustomed to winning, and that’s what the club is all about.
“Our expectations are to be a playoff team year-in and year-out,” he said. “It should be the bar that we set, and I think the players that we have all embrace that.”
