Following a disappointing home draw after being up by three goals and conceding an exceptionally late stoppage time equalizer, the Seattle Reign are back on the road today, traveling to the hot and muggy Bayou City to face the Houston Dash at 4 PM Pacific. Like Chicago, Houston is below the playoff line in 11th place with 18 points, but they are undefeated in their past three games. Last weekend the Dash defeated Gotham FC 2-1 in New Jersey thanks to a Michelle Alozie goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time – their only shot on target of the entire game.

The temperature is forecast to be 93°F at kickoff with relative humidity of around 45%. Thanks to some expected cloud cover and the natural grass surface the sun should be less of a factor than in the Reign’s trip to Portland two weeks ago, but the higher humidity will still make for a difficult game. How the two sides adapt their tactics and subs and make use of the cooling breaks could be key to getting a result.

Seattle has dominated the all-time series against the Dash, with a record of 18-6-4 (8-4-2 on the road) and 49 goals scored compared to only 21 conceded, but Houston won the most recent meeting between the two sides, a 1-0 victory at Lumen Field in May thanks to a Maggie Graham goal.

Match preview: Seattle Reign at Houston Dash

The Reign head to hot and humid Houston on Sunday.

Sounder at HeartSusie Rantz

Keys to the game

• Strike early, strike often
• Stay strong and focused for the full 90+
• Be smart about when to press in the heat

Notes

• Shae Holmes is a new addition to the injury list for the Reign this week with an ankle injury. Reign head coach Laura Harvey also said that Ana-Maria Crnogorčević is close to return, but not quite ready yet.
• Thanks to other results around the league, a win would lift Seattle past Portland and into a tie for 4th place with Orlando, although unless the Reign win by at least 5 goals the Pride will remain above them on goal differential. A loss would keep the Reign in sixth place, with Racing Louisville potentially catching up with them depending on their result tonight against San Diego.

Injuries, absences, suspensions

Reign: OUT: Ryanne Brown (SEI – knee), Ana-Maria Crnogorčević (ankle), Hanna Glas (leg), Shae Holmes (ankle), Veronica Latsko (SEI – lower leg), Cassie Miller (D45 – leg)

Dash: OUT: Ramona Bachmann (SEI – knee), Elizabeth Beardsley (hand), Amanda West (SEI – knee)
QUESTIONABLE: Michelle Alozie (thigh)

Recent form

Reign: DWWLD (7-5-4, +4 GD; 6th place)
Dash: LLDWW (5-8-3, -7 GD; 11th place)

Officials

REF: Iryna Petrunok; AR1: Ben Rigel; AR2: Ricardo Ocampo; 4TH: Sean Caouette; VAR: Alyssa Pennington; AVAR: Matthew Rodman

How to Watch

Match date/kickoff time: Sunday, August 24th, 4 PM PT

Venue: Shell Energy Stadium, Houston

Broadcast: NWSL+ / Paramount+ (JP Dellacamera & Jill Loyden)

Is this game available to stream for free in the US? Yes

Lineups

Highlights

47’ - A passing error by the Reign at the back leads to Yazmeen Ryan stealing the ball and easily slotting it home.

65’ - Jordyn Huitema gets her head on a long ball into the box from Sofia Huerta to level the score, and give Huerta the NWSL assist record!

Join the discussion in our Discord gamethread (Supporter tier and above), or in the comments below.

This is Seattle Reign at Dash; watch with us

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