Houston Dash Announce Roster for 2014

The Houston Dash announced their roster for the inaugural 2014 season today. The roster consists of 18 players, put together through a combination of national team allocations, the Expansion Draft and the College Draft. The Dash will take two goalkeepers, 6 defenders, 4 midfielders and 6 forwards into the season which begins on Saturday, April 12th.

Included in the 18 player roster are Canadian National Team defender Lauren Sesselmann, out for the season with a torn ACL, as well as U.S. National Team Defenders Whitney Engen and Meghan Klingenberg who are currently playing in Europe with Swedish side Tyresö FF in the Semifinals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Tyresö FF faces Birmingham City on April 19th and April 27th; if the side advances they would participate in the final on May 22nd. Engen and Klingenberg will join the Dash following the conclusion of Tyresö’s Champions League campaign. In addition, Rafaelle Souza is finishing out her schooling with Ole Miss prior to joining the side.

Not included in the 18 is Japanese international Aya Sameshima, as well as six players who have been training with the team: Dominque Richardson (trialist), Lindsay Elston (trialist), Holly Hein (trialist), Megan Kinneman (trialist), Osinachi Ohale (international trialist), Laisa Andrioli (international trialist). Sameshima remains under contract, however had to return to Japan last month to rehab a torn meniscus but can be added to the roster later once she returns to full health.

The six trialists remain with the team and continued to train today, however were not named to the registered roster and, therefore, as of today would be ineligible to play against the Portland Thorns this coming Saturday.

Under NWSL rules, the Dash were required to name between 18-2o players to the active roster by today. Sesselmann was included, despite injury, as she is an Allocated Player from the Canadian Soccer Association. Sameshima, on the other hand, is an international player but not part of the Allocation system (United States, Canada and Mexico national team players participate in the Allocation system). Under Allocation rules, Sesselmann’s full salary does not count against the salary cap. Given she is out for the season, the Dash are expected to get additional cap relief.

With only 15 of the 18 players on the active roster available for selection, the Dash have options to supplement the roster including through injury replacement. Trialists Richardson and Elston both tweeted over the weekend pictures of their Dash uniforms, suggesting they had made the team. Expect the Dash to make additional roster moves this week in order to ensure that they are able to field a full squad of 18 players (11 starters, 7 on the substitutes bench) by Saturday night.

2014 Houston Dash Roster (Previous club/college)

Goalkeepers (2): Bianca Henninger (FC Kansas City), Erin McLeod (Chicago Red Stars)

Defenders (6): Marissa Diggs (Central Florida), Whitney Engen (Tyresö FF), Meghan Klingenberg (Tyresö FF), Arianna Romero (Seattle Reign FC), Lauren Sesselmann (FC Kansas City), Kika Toulouse (Washington Spirit), Nikki Washington (Portland Thorns FC)

Midfielders (4): Brittany Bock (Sky Blue FC), Becky Edwards (Portland Thorns FC), Jordan Jackson (Nebraska), Teresa Noyola (FC Kansas City)

Forwards (6): Ella Masar (Chicago Red Stars), Tiffany McCarty (Washington Spirit), Stephanie Ochs (Washington Spirit), Kealia Ohai (North Carolina), Rafaelle Souza (Ole Miss)

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