HOUSTON — Janine Sonis bagged a brace in Saturday’s homecoming of sorts. The Colorado native scored twice to help Denver Summit get back on track, after a 2-game slide, as they beat Houston Dash 4-1. Sonis grew up in Highlands, Ranch, and starred at Valor Christian, but played collegiately in the Lone Star State, where she became Texas Tech’s all-time leading scorer. She was then drafted by the Dash 8th overall in 2016, and played her first 2 seasons in H-Town.
Sonis, opened the scoring in the 15th minute, finishing off a feed from Yazmeen Ryan for her first goal of the season. It was a full-circle moment for Sonis, who netted the first NWSL goal of her career at that same venue in April 2016 as a Houston rookie.
Summit head coach Nick Cushing was quick to praise for his club for the effort, but also offered a peak behind the curtain a bit as to his approach this week in training, “I said to the players, we worked hard this week, but I stepped off the pedal a little bit and pushed the players to the front,” Cushing said. “We have a leadership team here, we have experience, for me it was critical that our players took responsibility, and our players had influence and we allowed out players to go and be themselves.”
Ryan and Sonis connected again in the 72nd minute, when Sonis headed home her second of the night for her first brace since March 2024. The double assist was also a first for any Summit player this season.
“I think it’s just time for us,” Ryan said following the match.
“I think it took us maybe a little longer than we expected to have a full performance like that, because that’s what this team is capable of and that’s what we know we can do game-in and game-out. I’m just really proud that was the response from the last couple of games, and now it’s about carrying that and just maintaining that because that’s our standard and that’s how we play. So just keeping our identity and have that buy-in and just being 90-minute focused.”
In between Sonis goals, Tash Flint added to her impressive run of form in the 34th minute, scoring her fourth goal of the season to pull level with Melissa Kössler for the team lead. It was the third consecutive match in which Flint has found the back of the net.
Houston pulled one back via a Maggie Graham penalty kick in the 45th minute — the first penalty Denver has conceded all season — to make it 2-1 at halftime.
But Denver reasserted control four minutes into the second half. Delanie Sheehan struck in the 49th minute for her first goal of the season, with Ayo Oke recording her first NWSL assist on the play.
The victory, Denver’s first since March 25 at Gotham, came behind a season-high four goals and snapped a stretch of futility for a Summit side that entered the match without a win in its previous six matches. Denver improves to 2-3-3 (9 points) while Houston falls to 3-1-4 (10 points).
The result is a notable milestone for the franchise historically as well. Denver became just the second team in NWSL history to play at least six of its first eight regular-season matches away from home, joining the 2019 Portland Thorns, who played seven of their first eight on the road. Denver returns home this coming Saturday, May 16th for “Pride Night” as they host Orlando at Dick’s Sports Goods Park
One final note regarding Saturday’s match in Houston, although teams had to deal with the Mother Nature, as match did not begin until a 1 hour, 36 minute weather delay, but the Summit showed they were able to weather the storm more effectively, so-to-speak. “The vibes were just really good today,” Sonis said.
“We had a fun day, I think we all handled the delay really well, and just kind of went with the flow, and then when we all went out there, kind of let loose, and hopefully this is a turn in the tide for us.”
