Houston Dash: How the Dash Were Built

International Discovery

Aya Sameshima (Japan) – On January 24th, 2014 the Dash signed the Japanese national team defender. Like Sesselmann, Sameshima suffered an injury at the Algarve Cup (torn meniscus). She initially arrived in Houston but has since returned to Japan. She is not on the active roster and her status is uncertain at this stage. More information on Sameshima can be found here.

Open Trials

The Dash held open tryouts on February 15th, 2014. A handful of trialists have continued to train with the team, some of whom were added to the roster today. With the roster released earlier this week, the Dash only had 14 active player (Sesselmann, Engen, Klingenberg and Souza are not with the team at the moment). Today the Dash announced the signing of 4 trialists to bring the active roster back up to 18. Sesselmann goes to the season ending injury list while the team also gets roster relief for Engen and Klingenberg not yet being present.

Lindsay Elston #13 – A young midfielder from the University of Washington, she is also a member of the US U-20 national team. Has signed and is now an active member of the roster.

Dominique Richardson #15 – A midfielder from the University of Missouri, she had 3 goals and 3 assists in 19 appearances during the 2013 season with Mizzou. Has signed and is now an active member of the roster.

Holly Hein #21 – A defender from the University of Michigan, she has already overcome a number of obstacles in recent years including a torn ACL and thyroid cancer. Has signed and is now an active member of the roster.

Megan Kinneman – A goalkeeper from LSU who saw some playing time with the Dash while McLeod was away on national team duty.

Haley Carter – A goalkeeper who is an alum of the Naval Academy and a former Marine Corp officer. Haley is the feel good story of the trialists; a mom who has come through the tryouts and stuck with the team to this point.

International Trialists

The Dash have had a couple of international players come through on trial and may have a look at others in the next few weeks. One player has signed and will suit up Saturday night.

Osinachi Ohale #20 – Ohale is a young Nigerian player who is part of the national team set-up. She has played for Delta Queens in the Nigerian Women’s Championship but has been eyeing a move overseas for a while. During 2013 she nearly made the move to Russia to play with WFC Rossiyanka, however the move fell through. She can play both in the midfield and defense, however given the Dash’s issues in the backline with the Sesselmann and Sameshima injuries as well as Engen and Klingenberg yet to join the team, it is likely she will play in defense.

For now, Ohale and the other trialists are the final piece in the process that started 4 months ago and that reaches its next stage Saturday night at BBVA Compass Stadium. The lower bowl of the stadium is sold out prompting the team to open some seating in the upper bowl. It promises to be a raucous and exciting evening as the Houston soccer community takes its next step.

Read why you should care about the Houston Dash here.

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