Houston Dash vs. Washington Spirit live stream, schedule, preview: Watch NWSL online

It's fourth vs. fifth. Two outfits with momentum from week three clash in an enticing Friday night contest on the anniversary of the first Houston Dash match ever played.

Coming off back-to-back wins at Audi Field, Trinity Rodman and Washington Spirit jet off to the Lone Star State to meet with Fran Alonso's Dash. In 2023, nothing separated the two outfits. A 1-1 draw in Houston. A scoreless affair in the nation's capital. In the last fixture where the points weren't split evenly between the two, the Dash used an own goal by Julia Roddar to take care of Albertin Montoya's Spirit in October 2022.

As far as this year goes, Adrián González's group has somewhat surprised some people early on, finding a whole lot of success with two of its top-five NWSL Draft selections in January in the midfield.

Midfielder Croix Bethune, along with Rodman sit in the top-five in the NWSL for shot-creating actions. The ex-Georgia and USC attacking-minded player has been exceptional between the lines, playing in those spaces behind the number nine Ouleymata Sarr. Sure, she's talented going forward, but that ability to do that defensive work off the ball when needed is what has put her right into the center of the Rookie of the Year race.

It'd be wrong if we didn't mention Hal Hershfelt, the only midfielder on the Spirit who has managed to complete over 100 passes so far.

Alonso's crew were on the brink of dropping the first three fixtures of the season in San Jose back in late March. Captained by the leadership of Sophie Schmidt at center back, and the two Mexican stars going forward, Houston scored three goals in the final 24 minutes plus stoppage time to steal two points right from under Bay FC. The Florida native Havana Solaun converted the improbable winner just seven minutes after Racheal Kundananji shocked the home crowd with a sublime piece of individual quality.

It was an incredibly uplifting result for a team that was overwhelmed defensively against North Carolina Courage and even Racing Louisville FC despite that being a goalless draw. For context, Houston has produced the highest expected goals against total in the league through three fixtures. You'd think the focus would be to bring in some defensive-minded assets. That wasn't the case, at least for now.

The club interestingly added some firepower up top during the international window, acquiring Swiss international Ramona Bachmann from Paris Saint-Germain for an undisclosed transfer fee. It should be some time before the ex-Chelsea forward dons orange and black due to the pending receipt of her P-1 Visa and International Transfer Certificate.

Washington made some noise of its own in the transfer market over the last two weeks, bringing on board quite the attacking talent, Colombian international Leicy Santos. Santos, like Jonatan Giráldez won't make the move to the States until the Liga F season finishes.

How to watch Houston Dash vs. Washington Spirit in the NWSL regular season

• Date: Friday, April 12
• Start Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
• Location: Shell Energy Stadium (Houston, Texas)
• TV info/Live Stream: Amazon Prime Video

Prediction: Houston Dash 2-2 Washington Spirit