Houston Dash vs Orlando Pride: Highlights, stats, and quotes
(image via @sayntsports)
The Houston Dash conceded twice in the first half in a 2-1 loss to the Orlando Pride on Sunday afternoon at Shell Energy Stadium.
MATCH SUMMARY
Houston Dash 1-2 Orlando Pride
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Venue: Shell Energy Stadium - Houston, Texas
Referee: Shawn Tehini
Assistants: Matthew Rodman, Chris Schurfranz
Fourth Official: Mario Maric
VAR: Abdou Ndiaye
Attendance: 7,248
Weather: 68 degrees, sunny
SCORING SUMMARY
ORL: Luana (penalty kick) 16’
ORL: Solai Washington (Marta) 31’
HOU: Danny Colaprico (unassisted) 55’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
HOU: Paige Nielsen (caution; foul) 46’
LINEUPS & STATS
Houston Dash: Jane Campbell (c); Natalie Hammond, Paige Nielsen, Leah Klenke, Allysha Chapman (Lisa Boattin, 79’); Danny Colaprico (Cate Hardin, 60’), Maggie Graham; Kiki Van Zanten (Khyah Harper, 46’), Kat Rader, Miljana Ivanovic (Linda Ullmark, 46’); Clarissa Larisey (Kate Faasse, 46’)
Unused substitutes: Caroline DeLisle, Sophie Schmidt, Sarah Puntigam, Jordan Brewster
Total shots: 12
Shots on goal: 3
Fouls: 11
Offside: 2
Corner kicks: 5
Saves: 4
Orlando Pride: Cosette Morché; Oihane Hernández, Cori Dyke, Rafaelle, Hailie Mace; Angelina (Jacquie Ovalle, 74’), Luana (Ally Lemos, 46’); Solai Washington (Sanne Lekven, 74’) (Nicole Payne, 82’), Haley McCutcheon, Kerry Abello (Julie Doyle, 46’); Marta (c)
Unused Substitutes: Hannah Anderson, Cara Martin, Summer Yates, Kylie Nadaner
Total shots: 12
Shots on goal: 6
Fouls: 5
Offside: 2
Corner kicks: 6
Saves: 2
HOUSTON DASH INTERIM HEAD COACH JAIME FRIAS
On the match:
"I think you saw two teams, a game with two halves, right? Again, I feel like it's the same press conference last week, where they put us on our back foot in the first half. We made a few tactical adjustments before the half ended. Confirmed those adjustments at halftime, changed some personnel, and then you got what you saw in the second half, which was a completely different Dash team that was creating quality chances, that was winning the ball higher up the field. This is one of the games where we created the most box entries, and so it was good for us to see and to feel the team that we are, the team that is in us to play that. It's just now a matter of doing that a little bit more consistently moving forward."
On coaching the team and the mentality for the rest of the season:
"It is awesome to coach this team, Michael (Thervil). I wish you could experience it. They are a group of players and a group of people that want nothing but the best for this club, and you can see that every day. I think you unfortunately don't have the privilege to share a little bit more time with them. All you do is you see, and the fans all they see is the 90 minutes. They don't see the day in, day out, the hard work, the effort, the commitment, the laughs, and then the enthusiasm that they have to finish out the season. I think they are extremely disappointed today because, and I'm not surprised, Michael, because they want to win regardless of whether we're in the playoffs or not, and so we walk away disappointed that we did not win. We walked away with our heads held high."
On the team’s improvement in the second half:
"It was simple. It was a simple ask from a defensive perspective. We weren't applying a lot of pressure, enough pressure on their backs, and so what we did is we bumped one of our midfielders to our front line, so now their center backs couldn't play or hit those longer switches of play, which then we were matched up player for player in the back and with players like Marta and (Hailey) McCutchen and all those wonderful players. It was the risk that we were willing to take, and it paid off for us. We were able to win the ball higher up the field. From an attacking perspective, we showed a couple of clips at halftime on how we can use the width a little bit better and adjusted the positioning, especially when we switched the point of attack. We didn't feel like we had enough numbers wide enough on the weak side to help us relieve some of that pressure and exploit some of those spaces they were leaving open and available. I thought in the second half, we did a much better job of using the width, and you could see it. I translated the amount of crosses that we had."
on wearing Team Bianca shirts:
"We are very proud to wear this shirt for Miss Bianca (Paulus). She is the epitome of what a courageous individual in the face of adversity is, and so she represents herself, her family, and our team in our community in a very good way. If you think about it, she faced some of the biggest adversity as far as health is concerned, and she never looked down. She never felt sorry for herself. She always lifted her head, moved forward. At times, we didn't know how difficult it was for her because she was always putting on the best face forward. She is courageous, and she is enthusiastic, and that is something that we strive to be, not only as a team but as a club. She's an inspiration to all of us, and she was the inspiration for our game today. She means the world to us, and what she represents, and how she went about her challenge this year."
HOUSTON DASH MIDFIELDER MAGGIE GRAHAM
On the match:
“It's a tough loss. For these last three games this season, we really wanted to come out and get nine points for ourselves, and losing today was not ideal, but I'm glad we could put together a really good second-half performance. It's just something we have to do for 90 minutes. So well fought by us, but a tough loss.”
On improvements heading into the next match against Chicago:
“I want to see a 90-minute performance. I want us to start strong, and I want us to come out fighting. Today we got outplayed in the first half just purely out of grit and the desire to win, and I think that's something I really want us to put forth against Chicago (Stars FC), to play our best and play really gritty and do whatever we can to win that game.”
On the meaning and significance of Team Biance shirts worn during the match:
“It was amazing. She (Bianca Paulus, team dietitian) is one of the strongest people I've ever met, and she means the world to me. So, for us to be able to support her by wearing those shirts and support the battle that she went through against breast cancer is something that just really inspired all of us. We talked before the game about how lucky we are to be playing out on that field and to have people around us that are fighting that fight and pushing themselves. All we can do is do the same on the field for them. I think it was just really great to be able to support her in that way.”
HOUSTON DASH FORWARD KHYAH HARPER
On the match:
"It's a good team (Orlando Pride); they are still in the playoff run, so they came in with a lot of fight. We waited a little bit too long to match that fight. We switched something tactically in the second half and it was a better performance for us but ultimately it was too late, and we need to be more clinical in the final third and finish our chances."
On Jaime Frias’ message going into the second half:
“It was more of a mentality piece for us. I think blowing up tackles, finishing those chances, just setting the tone. I think we did well in the second half doing that and creating more chances but ultimately again, Jaime's message was to just go out there and finish off the season with as many points that we can get. We fell short today but hopefully, we're turn it around quickly as we prepare for Chicago.”
On expectations heading into the match against Chicago:
“We are going to look at film, see what we can do better. We know we need to be better in the final third. We had plenty of chances to finish today. We had a couple offsides that could've been goals, those are just little moments that can change the whole result. Looking forward, I think we are going to look at what we can do better on the offensive side of the ball. I think our defense did a pretty good job today, but moving forward we are going to turn the page and just be ready for Chicago (Stars FC) and hopefully get three points."
