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Our long winter of discontent is about to draw to a close, as the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League season officially kicks off on Friday. All 14 teams look differently than they did a year ago, some moreso than others. Let’s ask some real questions of every club’s prospects for the new year.
Part II, clubs No. 7-1, will be out on Friday!
How far can the Houston Dash’s glow-up go?
Are the Houston Dash in for a dramatic reversal of fortunes? It would not be unprecedented, considering the worst-to-first 2023 NWSL Champions Gotham FC and 2022 Kansas City Current, who finished the season as league runners-up after concluding the previous year second from bottom.
Houston’s 2024 season was simply a hot mess. The club scored the league’s fewest goals in 2024, and scored twice or more just four times all season. The Dash’s previously stout defense — led by veteran goalkeeper Jane Campbell — came under heavy duress, tying Angel City for the most goals shipped. Head coach Fran Alonso was mysteriously missing in action for most of the season, and general manager Alex Singer was let go in July. The team also lay dubious claim to the oldest roster in the NWSL. Former Angel City FC GM Angela Hucles Mangano now enters the fray as the team’s GM and president of women’s soccer operations.
After a wretched year, a reimagined Houston Dash hope look to hit reset
The team’s roster appears to be freshened up, with the recent attacking additions of Yazmeen Ryan and Delanie Sheehan from Gotham FC and Messiah Bright from Angel City, and seasoned veterans Danielle Colaprico and Christen Westphal from the San Diego Wave. Ryan has been among the U.S. women’s national team’s most exciting revelations from the post-Olympics Emma Hayes era. She will be tasked with revitalizing the Dash’s moribund attack. A trio of Dash stalwarts also return for full seasons from maternity leave — Katie Lind, Ryan Gareis and Allysha Chapman.
Debut head coach Fabrice Gautraut (the 11th manager in the organization’s 11-year history) will be responsible for overseeing and managing this makeover. After years of stagnancy and organiza
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