Leah Klenke, Maggie Graham and Clarissa Larisey Power Houston Dash Past Chicago Stars

Some teams ease into a road game. The Houston Dash needed four minutes to score, and the Chicago Stars spent the rest of Friday night chasing a match that was already slipping away.

Leah Klenke opened the scoring in the fourth minute, Maggie Graham doubled the lead in the 54th and substitute Clarissa Larisey added a third in the 79th as Houston beat Chicago Stars FC 3-1 at Martin Stadium in Evanston. Sam Staab headed in a consolation for Chicago in stoppage time, but by then the 5,961 fans at the Stars' final home match of 2026 had seen this movie before.

Klenke Strikes Early

It took one set piece. Lisa Boattin swung a free kick into the box, a Chicago defender brought the ball down, and Klenke nipped in to take it and finish into the bottom left corner. Per the Dash, it was her first professional goal and Houston's fastest goal of the season. It also kept a running theme alive: the club says rookies have now accounted for 18 of Houston's 36 goals.

Houston controlled the rest of the half. Kate Faasse went close in the 10th minute, Linda Ullmark had a shot blocked in the 14th, and Alyssa Naeher had to make two saves in three minutes, first from Miljana Ivanovic's shot from the top of the box in the 36th and then from Faasse's header in the 38th. Chicago's best look came in the 25th, when Micayla Johnson got a shot away from the left side of the box and Jane Campbell saved it.

The Set-Piece Machine

Boattin did it again in the second half. After Klenke was booked in the 51st minute, Houston won a free kick in the attacking half, and in the 54th Boattin delivered toward the far post, where Graham met it first time and finished into the bottom right corner. It was Graham's fourth goal of the season, per the club, and Boattin's second goal-creating delivery of the night.

Interim head coach Jaime Frias then went to his bench. Kiki Van Zanten and Larisey came on in the 62nd minute, and within a minute Van Zanten had played Kat Rader through for a shot that slid just wide. Michelle Alozie had a similar near miss for Chicago in the 63rd, dragging a left-footed shot just wide.

In the 79th minute, the substitutes connected. Van Zanten swung in a cross and Larisey finished with her right foot into the bottom left corner for 3-0. Larisey nearly had a second in the 86th but sent her shot from distance over the bar.

Chicago kept swinging throughout, to its credit. Anna Gasper's header from a Mallory Swanson cross was blocked in the 70th minute, Alozie went wide off a set piece in the 85th, and Campbell saved Alozie's header in the first minute of stoppage time. Houston's Sarah Puntigam and Chicago's Tessa Dellarose were both booked along the way. Finally, in the third minute of stoppage time, Emma Egizii's corner found Staab, whose header went into the bottom right corner to spoil the clean sheet.

Boattin, Klenke and the Bench

Boattin was the night's quiet star. She is credited with one assist, on Graham's goal, but her free kick also started the move for Klenke's opener, and she drew four fouls along the way. Klenke, a center back, scored on one of her two shots and also had a header blocked late in the first half.

Van Zanten's cameo was exactly what a coach wants from a substitute: one assist and one chance created for Rader within 20 minutes of entering. Campbell, Houston's captain, made two saves. For Chicago, Staab scored her second goal of the season with that stoppage-time header off Egizii's corner, and she led the Stars with five interceptions, per the club. Alozie took four shots, more than any other Chicago player, and Swanson had a hand in much of what Chicago created before she came off in the 85th minute, setting up Alozie twice and Gasper once.

The Turning Point

The fourth-minute goal set the tone, but Graham's strike in the 54th minute was the knockout. Chicago had kept it to 1-0 through halftime, and a scrappy second half was building. Then came another dead ball, another Boattin delivery and another Houston goal. Against a Stars side that has struggled all season, a two-goal hole felt like a mountain. Houston, which completed 385 passes to Chicago's 172, could simply keep the ball and make the Stars chase shadows until the substitutes landed the final blow.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Houston 65.2 percent, Chicago 34.8.
• Passes: Houston 493, Chicago 263.
• Shots on goal: Houston 5, Chicago 3.
• Clearances: Chicago 24, Houston 11.
• Fouls: Chicago 17, Houston 12.

What It Means

Houston improves to 9-6-14 with 33 points and snaps a two-match losing streak. The Dash say they have collected seven points from their last three road matches under Frias. They close the regular season at home against the Portland Thorns on Nov. 1, Fan Appreciation Night at Shell Energy Stadium. Keep an eye on Rader in that one: the club says her 10 goals lead the team and leave her one away from matching the NWSL rookie record of 11 in a single season.

Chicago falls to 5-2-22 with 17 points. The Stars have lost five straight and have gone eight matches without a win, and Houston also beat them 5-0 in Houston in August. Simone Charley made her first start in a Stars jersey, per the club, and Chicago closes its season at the Washington Spirit on Nov. 1.

Closing Take

Houston's season has had more plot holes than a late-night streaming thriller, but this was the kind of tidy, set-piece-powered win that makes you wonder what the Dash could look like with a full year of it. Three goals, three different scorers, one very happy bench. Chicago, meanwhile, just needs the credits to roll.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Additional details from the Houston Dash (HoustonDynamoFC.com) and ChicagoStars.com.