Schmidt scores late goal to lift the Dash over the Courage in the NWSL
By THEO LLOYD-HUGHES
Associated Press
Sophie Schmidt scored in the last seconds to give the Houston Dash a 2-1 comeback victory over the North Carolina Courage on Friday night in the National Women’s Soccer League.
In the only other match in the NWSL on Friday, the first-place Kansas City Current beat the last-place Utah Royals 1-0 on the road.
In Houston, midfielder Riley Jackson gave North Carolina a 1-0 lead from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute. The foul from Maggie Graham on Jaedyn Shaw was originally been deemed to be outside the box, but it was changed after a VAR review.
Dash midfielder Kiki van Zanten tied it on a stunning long-range shot the 39th minute.
Neither team created many big chances in the second half until Dash forward Yazmeen Ryan wiggled away from pressure inside the North Carolina box and slipped the ball across to Schmidt to score from 2 yards out in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
It was the second consecutive game where Schmidt had a late goal to positively changed the outcome of a match for Houston. Last week, Schmidt scored an 88th minute equalizer for the Dash in a 2-2 draw with Bay FC.
The victory snapped a six-game winless streak for Houston (4-8-3), going back to May.
This was the first game for the Courage (5-6-4) under acting head coach Nathan Thackeray. Former head coach Sean Nahas was fired on Wednesday, having led the team since December 2021.
Record-breaking Chawinga scores in away win for Current
Temwa Chawinga scored her 10th goal of the season to give the Current a 1-0 edge over the Royals.
The Malawian forward scored the game-winner by latching onto a long ball by Current defender Kayla Sharples and then dinking the ball over Royals goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn, who was rushing off her line, in the 82nd minute.
Making her 40th NWSL regular-season appearance, Chawinga has reached 30 career NWSL regular-season goals faster than any other player in league history. Chawinga is also now tied with Esther Gonzalez for top scorer in the NWSL this season.
Ally Sentnor made her debut for the Current against her former team by coming on as a substitute at halftime. Last week, Sentnor was traded from Utah to Kansas City in exchange for $600,000. The transfer fee was a record between two NWSL teams.
In the dying moments, substitute Cloe Lacasse missed a chance to snatch a point for Utah when she headed over the bar from six yards out. The Canadian forward was playing her first match since recovering from an ACL tear in October 2024.
Kansas City (13-2-0) has won seven consecutive matches and recorded three consecutive clean sheets to lead the league standings.
Utah (1-11-3) is winless in 10 games.
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