The 2021

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

season was the team's eighth season as an American professional

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

team in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL). The 2021 NWSL season returned as a full league season after

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

caused the

2020 NWSL season The 2020 National Women's Soccer League season was the eighth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer ( ...

to be limited to the

2020 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup was a tournament during the 2020 National Women's Soccer League season to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first professional team sports event to return to play in United States ...

and Fall Series. The NWSL continued to showcase the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

in 2021, prior to a full league season starting in late April.

Background

The Dash retained their

-winning coach and general manager, James Clarkson, and much of their roster from the previous season. In June 2021, real-estate developer Ted Segal reportedly paid $400 million to purchase majority ownership of the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

and Dash, and the leasing rights to

BBVA Stadium Shell Energy Stadium is an American multi-purpose stadium located in Houston, Texas, that is home to Houston Dynamo FC, a Major League Soccer club and the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League and was the first soccer specific s ...

, from Gabriel Brener, who retained a minority stake. Six of the Dash's regular starters participated in the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, held in July and August. Three Canadian national team members of the Dash returned from the competition as gold medalists:

Allysha Chapman Allysha Lyn Chapman (born January 25, 1989) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a left-back for National Women's Soccer League club Houston Dash and the Canada national team. College career Chapman played college soccer for U ...

Nichelle Prince Nichelle Patrice Prince (born February 19, 1995) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Kansas City Current and the Canada national team. Club career Houston Dash After playing ...

, and

Sophie Schmidt Sophie Diana Schmidt (born 28 June 1988) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League club Houston Dash. From 2005 until retiring from international football in 2023, she was a member o ...

. During the 2021 season, current and former players across the league leveled numerous allegations of abuse and misconduct among several teams' coaches and managers. The resulting investigations led to several coaches and managers being fired or asked to resign. Along with other coaching turnover during the 2021 season, Clarkson was the only male coach who started the season to retain his job at the end of it, though he would be suspended at the start of the 2022 Houston Dash season pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct.

Stadium

The Dash continued to play in

in 2022. In June 2021, the stadium was rebranded as PNC Stadium following

PNC Financial Services The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of Columbia, with 2,629 ...

' acquisition of

BBVA USA BBVA USA was a bank headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. It was a subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from 2007 until 2021, when it was acquired by PNC Financial Services. It operated mainly in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado ...

Player and staff

Roster

''.''

Staff

Competitions

NWSL Challenge Cup

The

Dash The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

returned to defend their title after winning the

. However, the Dash struggled to win matches and failed to advance from the group stage, claiming victory once and drawing three times to finish third behind

OL Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since J ...

and eventual champions

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

in the West Division.

Divisional standings

National Women's Soccer League season

The Dash rose as high as third in the NWSL table during the season, and with three matches remaining required only one point to clinch a first-ever league playoffs berth. However, the Dash lost all three matches, going scoreless in each, and missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.

Results

Standings

International Champions Cup

By virtue of being the

champions, the

Women's International Champions Cup The Women's International Champions Cup (WICC) is an annual club women's soccer invitational tournament in the United States. Launched by Relevent Sports Group in 2018, it features four women's soccer teams from America and Europe competing for ...

invited the Dash to the 2021 friendly exhibition tournament, staged on 18–21 August 2021 in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. The Dash were joined by 2020

NWSL Fall Series The 2020 National Women's Soccer League season was the eighth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer ( ...

winners

, 2019-20 UEFA Women's Champions League and

2019–20 Division 1 Féminine The 2019–20 Division 1 Féminine season, also known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, was the 46th edition of Division 1 Féminine since its establishment in 1974. The season began on 24 August 2019 and was scheduled to end on 30 May 2020. ...

winners Olympique Lyon, and 2019–20 Primera División Femenina winners

FC Barcelona Femení Futbol Club Barcelona Femení, commonly referred to as Barça Femení () or simply Barça, is a Spanish professional women's association football, women's football team based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is the women's football section of FC Barc ...

. The Dash drew against the Thorns in regulation of the semi-final match, but lost in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. The Dash also fell in the third-place match against FC Barcelona, despite rallying to a 2–1 lead in the second half.

Background

Stadium

Player and staff

Roster

Staff

Competitions

NWSL Challenge Cup

Divisional standings

National Women's Soccer League season

Results

Standings

International Champions Cup

Results

Bracket

References

External links

See also