Houston Dash at Angel City FC: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via Houston Dash)
The Houston Dash suffered their first loss of the 2026 season, falling 2-1 to Angel City FC on Friday night.
MATCH SUMMARY
Angel City FC 2-1 Houston Dash
Friday, March 27, 2026
Venue: BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, California
Referee: Mark Verso
Assistants: Darren Brandy, Melissa Beck
Fourth Official: Anthony Almeida
VAR: Danielle Chesky
Attendance: 13,896
Weather: 70 degrees, cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
HOU: Maggie Graham (Makenzy Robbe) 10’
ACFC: Sveindís Jónsdóttir (unassisted) 47’
ACFC: Riley Tiernan (unassisted) 49’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
ACFC: Evelyn Shores (caution; foul) 14’
HOU: Danny Colaprico (caution; foul) 25’
ACFC: Sveindís Jónsdóttir (caution; foul) 69’
HOU: Kiki Van Zanten (caution; foul) 88’
LINEUPS & STATS
Angel City FC: Angelia Anderson; Evelyn Shores, Savy King, Emily Sams (c), Gissel Thompson; Avry Bogers, Maiara Niehues, Nealy Martin (Taylor Suarez 73’); Riley Tierman (Prisca Chilufya 85’), Sveindis Jonsdottir
Unused substitutes: Hannah Seabert, Faith Nguyen, Sarah Gorden, Sophia Mattice, Carina Lageyre, Casey Phair, Rejanah Reed
Total shots: 9
Shots on goal: 3
Fouls: 21
Offside: 1
Corner kicks: 3
Saves: 2
Houston Dash: Jane Campbell (c); Leah Klenke, Paige Nielsen, Malia Berkely, Avery Patterson; Kat Rader, Danny Colaprico (Messiah Bright 74’), Maggie Graham, Linda Ullmark (Clarissa Larisey 90’); Kiki Van Zanten, Makenzy Robbe
Unused Substitutes: Hillary Beall, Caroline Delisle, Allysha Chapman, Evelina Duljan, Sarah Puntigam, Cate Hardin, Lisa Boattin
Total shots: 15
Shots on goal: 3
Fouls: 12
Offside: 1
Corner kicks: 7
Saves: 1
HOUSTON DASH HEAD COACH FABRICE GAUTRAT
On the match:
"Obviously, disappointed with the result in terms of how we started. We had a spell of like three-to-five minutes, where I would say lackluster. Not understanding the moment of the game. We are clear about the first five minutes and what we need to do in each half. Big five moments; we didn't do that and we let Angel City get in the game and score two (goals). Even after being down 2-1, I still felt very comfortable that we were going to create something, we obviously didn't. But overall, I told the group, it's a huge learning moment for us as we move forward."
On Maggie Graham:
"I thought (Maggie Graham) did brilliantly, as always, she finds those moments of when to go forward. Yeah, she was a rock for us in the press and in so many different areas. I'm really, really pleased with her and her leadership and what she means to us this year."
On his message to the team:
"What I told them, and I told every player on the team. This is a huge growth moment. What I saw in that first half was the glimpses of a dominant team in a lot of different ways. That's what I leave with here, hopeful. But I said, we have to grow from these moments. We know what we do in the first five minutes of the second half, first half and the end of halves. We know what the game plan is, what we need to be doing. For us, we just didn't execute and we didn't follow it. It's a good learning curve for us because you can't ever, for one second think you have it. This league is unforgiving. This league is dictated by moments of the game. So, that was just a big message for our group. Yeah, we're a young group, but I know we'll bounce back, and I know we'll have a bit of that chip on our shoulder moving into next week for sure."
On Avery Patterson:
"I'm sure you've seen we give a little bit of freedom for both of our fullbacks to attack. So, last year we were very much predominantly just right fullback goes, which was just her. I thought she had a really good game, she was really positive. Especially in the first half, obviously getting the first cross in and deflecting it. That's what we see her as. She could play right or left."
HOUSTON DASH DEFENDER AVERY PATTERSON
On the match:
"That's hard to put into words. This game, I think for me, it's a performance to be proud of regardless of the result. We were the dominant team for 98 percent of the game. For that, the game between the top two teams that are battling for the top seed in the table right now, shows where we're at and where we potentially can go. Regardless of the result and minus five minutes of the game, it's a performance that will be proud of."
On being proud of the performance:
"It is March. It's such a long season. We'll be playing until hopefully late November. It's (today's match against Angel City FC) a game that is good that we have under our belts. It is so early in the season. So, I’m grateful to experience that now, but it’s just such a tough pill to swallow. I've played in a lot of soccer games and not many where I can say that it was decided by five minutes. So, definitely a learning moment for me and not something that I've experienced in my three years in the NWSL. So, it's just tough."
On Angel City’s two goals:
"I don't even think that I would say complacency. I think it was a series of unfortunate events. Sometimes that's the beautiful game, you never know what you're going to get. It wasn't like it was a lapse of judgment. It was just one unfortunate event after the other for five consecutive minutes. It's like we went down after that. I'm super proud of how we responded. If you look at the stat sheet, if a game was decided on the stats, we would have won. From what I saw, it was just unfortunate for us and not something that we're going to be basing this performance off of."
On the identity of what the team is building:
"I have nothing but awesome remarks to give the rookies (Leah Klenke, Kat Rader, Linda Ullmark, Kate Faasse, and Cate Hardin), huge hats off to the performances that they put together, Linda, Kat and Leah. They're going to be superstars in this league. The fact that we have all three and we have Kate Faasse coming back. All four of them on one team is such a huge deal for me and for the entire club. I also think it's a testament to our culture off the field and what we're building here in Houston. They're super bought in and our entire team is super bought in. The fact that that was our response, says a lot about who we are as a group off the field as well."
On the upcoming match against Louisville:
"Everyone is pretty pissed off after this game. I don't think that it's going to be super hard to motivate people. If we all were given the opportunity to play that game tomorrow, we would. It's going to be a game where we take out some of our frustrations, find the back of the net, score more goals and concede less goals to come out with a win."
On the team’s culture:
"I've mentioned this a couple of times in a variety of my interviews, but Fabrice (Gautrat), huge hats off to him. He came in last year as a first-time head coach. I think it's always something where it's going to take a second to have the buy-in from the players. We've seen so much turnover here in Houston, it's almost like a skeptical thing where we are not sure if this guy is with us for the long haul or if it's going to be another year with turnover. The first six months, it was him instilling the belief that he had in us. The six months after the NWSL break and in the summer of last year was us believing in him too and trusting that he was going to take us to where we wanted to go as a club. That's been continued through this year. We have leadership club now and we have people that are bought into this team and a significant increase in our auxiliary staff. It's really a holistic approach to building this club into something that other people would want to be a part of. It's something that I'm proud of and it's something that I think all of our players are proud of as well."
HOUSTON DASH FORWARD MAKENZY ROBBE
On the match:
"I think that one (the match against Angel City FC) is a tough loss. It hurts. We had a really strong first half, the second half shows the importance of being switched on. It's an early lesson that we're going to learn and we're going to take it, improve and keep learning from these growing pains. I think we're ready for the next challenge."
On her assist:
"In and around goal, I'm always hungry to score or set up someone to score. We're all on the same page in that sense. I think you saw it last week with all of the goals and how hungry we are in and around the box. Avery (Patterson) sent a great ball in, and Maggie (Graham) was ready to pounce on any ball that came to her too, and that shows our mindset that we want to go."
On the upcoming match against Louisville:
"Allowing it (the loss against Angel City FC) to hurt a little bit tonight, but tomorrow ready to refocus and take what we've learned from this game and just only get better from here. It's a long season, having this lesson early is really great for us. This team has so much potential and just being able to pick ourselves up and get ready for next week."
