Clarissa Larisey's Bench Brace Stuns NC Courage as Houston Dash Rally for 3-2 Win

Clarissa Larisey had not scored all season. She entered in the 63rd minute with Houston trailing, and by the time the final whistle blew in Cary she had two goals, one of them a stoppage-time header that flipped the night completely.

The Houston Dash came from behind twice to beat the North Carolina Courage 3-2 on Sunday evening at WakeMed Soccer Park. Ally Schlegel and Evelyn Ijeh gave North Carolina leads in the 37th and 51st minutes, Kate Faasse answered the first, and Larisey, off the bench, scored in the 80th minute and again in the 93rd. Per the Dash, she is the first player to score multiple goals off the bench for the club since the 2014 season.

Messy Start, Then a Proper Fight

The opening was choppy. Kiki Van Zanten and Courage captain Natalie Jacobs both needed treatment in the ninth minute, and Jacobs could not continue, replaced by Natalia Staude in the 14th. Houston had the better of the early looks, with Kat Rader and Linda Ullmark both blocked from distance and Rader sending a shot wide from the middle of the box in the 18th. North Carolina answered with long-range tries from Shinomi Koyama and Erica Parkinson that sailed over.

The Courage broke through in the 37th minute. Koyama threaded a pass through to Ijeh, Jane Campbell stopped her quick shot, and Schlegel was first to the rebound, finishing left-footed for her third goal of the season. Avery Patterson nearly hit back straight away with a 38th-minute shot that slid just wide, and Houston did respond within five minutes. Off a corner, Van Zanten's shot was saved by Kailen Sheridan, and Faasse, a rookie, reacted quickest to poke home from close range. Per the Dash, it was her third goal of the season and pushed Houston's rookies to 12 combined goals, the most in the league.

Eight minutes of first-half stoppage time followed, and Campbell had to deny Ashley Sanchez before the break.

Ijeh Strikes, Larisey Answers Twice

North Carolina came out of halftime on the front foot. Schlegel missed from the middle of the box in the 48th, then made up for it three minutes later. Riley Jackson's pass sent Schlegel racing in behind the back line, and her cross found Ijeh, who finished from point-blank range. The Courage noted that it was Ijeh's 10th goal of the season, which put her and Sanchez in rare company: per the club, they became only the third pair of teammates in NWSL history to both reach double-digit goals in a season.

Then Houston's bench changed everything. Larisey replaced Faasse in the 63rd, Miljana Ivanovic and Khyah Harper came on in the 73rd, and the Dash started to swarm. Ivanovic forced a save from Sheridan in the 79th, and a minute later Patterson whipped in a cross that Larisey met in the middle of the box and steered into the bottom right corner. Per the Dash, it was her first goal of the season and her first since September of last year.

North Carolina pushed for a winner. Sanchez sent a free kick over in the 87th, Lauryn Thompson pulled a shot wide in the 89th, and Sheridan had to save another Ivanovic effort in the 90th. Then, three minutes into stoppage time, Lisa Boattin sent in the ball and Larisey rose in the middle of the box to head it into the bottom left corner. Thompson had two shots blocked in the dying seconds, and that was the game.

Larisey, and a Dash Comeback Habit

Larisey took two shots in 30-odd minutes, put both on target and scored with both. That is about as efficient as it gets. Patterson set up the first and Boattin the second, the club noting it was Boattin's first NWSL assist of the season. Patterson was a two-way menace from right back all night, with two shots of her own to go with the assist, and Ivanovic put both of her attempts on target in just over 20 minutes.

For North Carolina, Schlegel was excellent, recording a goal and an assist in the same NWSL match for the first time in her career, per the Courage. Ijeh scored and kept the Houston center backs honest all night. Sanchez, who per the club passed 10,000 NWSL regular-season minutes early in the match, took four shots but could not find the net.

The Dash have made a habit of this. Per the club, they have now taken 10 points from losing positions this season, the second most in the league.

The Turning Point

The 63rd-minute switch. Houston was down a goal at that point, and Larisey's arrival gave the Dash a different kind of threat in the box. Both of her goals came from service into the middle, which is exactly where she lives. Add Ivanovic and Harper ten minutes later, and North Carolina's back line suddenly had too many runners to track.

Stats That Matter

• Shots on goal: Houston 7, North Carolina 4.
• Saves: Sheridan made 4, Campbell 2.
• Interceptions: Houston 14, North Carolina 2.
• Tackles: Houston 24, North Carolina 13.
• Possession: North Carolina 53.2 percent, Houston 46.8.

What It Means

Houston improves to 6-5-8 with 23 points and earns its first win since beating Bay FC 1-0 on July 24, after a home loss to Gotham and a draw with Kansas City. It also flips the script on April, when North Carolina won 1-0 in Houston. The Dash host the Chicago Stars on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

North Carolina drops to 9-3-7 with 30 points. The loss ends a three-match winning streak that included a 5-0 rout of Orlando, a 2-0 win at Denver and a 4-3 thriller at Washington, and it came on home turf in front of 7,031 fans. The Courage host Boston Legacy FC next on Aug. 22.

Closing Take

Every great heist movie has the specialist who shows up late and does the one job nobody else can. Houston's specialist arrived in the 63rd minute, scored twice and left North Carolina wondering how a game it led twice slipped away. The Courage will rue the chances. The Dash will happily take the plot twist.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Additional details from HoustonDynamoFC.com and NCCourage.com; neither club's recap included postgame quotes.