Boston Legacy Shutout in Houston

Boston Legacy FC suffered another loss Saturday, falling 3-0 against the Houston Dash.

Head Coach Filipa Patão devised an entirely new lineup and formation as a result of injuries, a suspension, and load management. 

Laís Araújo, Chloe Ricketts, and Nicki Hernandez were unavailable due to injury, and Bianca St-Georges was suspended after her previous red card.

The club played in a 3-4-3 formation with Casey Murphy in goal and Annie Karich as the lone centerback, flanked by Kaká on the left and Carabalí on the right. Josefine Hasbo was in the holding midfielder position, with Aleigh Gambone to her left and Alba Caño to her right. Bárbara Olivieri took the No. 10 role. Amanda Gutierres was the designated striker, and had Sammy Smith on her left and Nichelle Prince on her right. 

Houston was given a penalty kick after Carabalí made contact with Makenzy Robbe in a slide tackle attempt, bringing the Dash player to the ground inside the box. Murphy saved the penalty.

Houston’s Kat Rader took a free kick in the 37th minute that made it to the back of the net, but the goal was called off after the referee deemed the Dash fouled Murphy (despite the collision happening after the ball had gone past Murphy).

The Dash’s first goal came at the 43rd minute, courtesy of Kiki Van Zanten. Houston took advantage of the open space in the Legacy’s midfield and were able to connect several passes, drawing Boston away from Van Zanten and giving her the space to shoot. 

Patão’s team stuck with its high press tactics and were able to keep 59% possession. The Legacy mainly played out of the back and used the wings to advance its attacks into the box. And while there were several set pieces and crosses made into the box, not one player could connect. 

Boston’s defense made more mistakes under pressure in the second half. Leading up to the second goal, Murphy attempted a pass to Carabalí when the ball was played back to her, but the Dash intercepted it. The following cross into the box resulted in a one-touch goal from Van Zanten in the 59th minute.

Minutes later, an unmarked Rader scored the third goal. Linda Ullmark provided the assist after evading three Boston players.

The Swans were able to keep possession of the ball and had a higher passing accuracy than the Dash (81% vs 72%), but fell short when it came to shots taken. Boston had two of 11 shots on goal compared to the Dash’s seven of 16. The two teams entered the final third an equal amount of times.

While Traore’s entrance into the game in the 56th minute didn’t produce any chances, she was still able to make some (what will likely become her trademark) runs into the box. She drew a foul in one instance, and crossed it near the back post in another, but no Legacy player made the run to connect. 

Patão said her team was unable to recoup after the first goal and noted that they will continue to work on decision making and execution.

“We need to be more mature in the way that we find the spaces,” she said after the game. “The executions that we [didn’t] have today was not lack of effort, but was decisions inside the game that, here, one ball, one moment, can transform the game in a completely different way. … We are not happy, because, again, we want to be competitive and we want to win these games, but we need to grow a little bit more.”

The Legacy will return to Gillette on Saturday, March 28 to face the Utah Royals.