SANDY, Utah – As the underdog Houston Dash celebrated winning the Challenge Cup title, forward Rachel Daly was asked if she could define the team's identity after the month-long tournament. “Winners,” the Dash co-captain simply said.
Sophie Schmidt scored on an early penalty kick and Shea Groom added a stoppage-time goal to give Houston the trophy with a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday.
The tournament was the National Women's Soccer League's re-boot after the regular season was shut down by the coronavirus outbreak.
Houston, in its seventh year in the league, had never previously made the playoffs. “Grit and determination and courage, I could use all of those cliche words but they actually mean something within our team,”.