One unforced error tilted the game in the Dash’s favor, though. The Legacy responded with a second-half goal, but another late mistake doomed Boston in a 2-1 loss.
The Legacy (7-13-5, 26 points) remain in the playoff hunt — just barely — with five games remaining, though coach Filipa Patão said the postseason could not be further from her mind.
“We never play a game inside the season thinking of playoffs,” she said. “We play games inside the season to get better every game, to win games. What happens after is going to be a consequence of that.”
Boston had Houston (8-12-5, 29 points) under its thumb until keeper Casey Murphy, looking to build out of the back, sent the ball to right back Jorelyn Carabalí, whose mis-hit curled it over the Legacy’s end line for a Houston corner.
Lisa Boattin sent the ball in on the set piece, and it rolled loose inside the 6-yard box before Danielle Colaprico drove it in to give the Dash a 1-0 lead in the 44th minute.
The Legacy showed some frustration the rest of the half, taking unnecessary fouls as they played from behind. But when they emerged from the locker room they had settled down and resumed their offensive pressure from early in the first.
In the 59th minute, Nicki Hernández carried up the left and sent a curling ball into the box, where Aïssata Traoré met it with her shin to score her team-leading 10th goal and tie the match.
It was the earliest second-half goal of the season for Traoré, who has a habit of waiting until the final minutes to perform her heroics — as she did in the 81st of the Legacy’s win over Washington last week. The Malian striker has scored in five straight matches.
The goal also was, from Patão’s perspective, an indicator that the Legacy were a better team than they were six months ago. It proved her players know how to respond, and that one mistake is no longer their doom.
“Having the first game against Houston, and now performing that way, the result was not positive … but I need to be very proud of my players,” the coach said.
The Legacy out-shot Houston, 22-14, including 11-6 on goal, but another error cemented that negative result in a game they otherwise dominated.
In the 85th minute, Khyah Harper sent a cross into the box, and Legacy defender Deja Davis went to head it clear. Instead, Davis redirected it straight at Murphy, who couldn’t keep it out of her net.
Houston’s Messiah Bright, who went up for the header with Davis, got credit for the winner.
The error was unfortunate, Patão conceded, but didn’t indicate any systemic problems. As a whole, she said, her squad is much improved from those early days.
“I’m sure 100 percent that, in the next season, we’re going to see a team that is not just competitive, but one that is going to win games because of the way that we are playing,” she said.
Emma Healy can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @ByEmmaHealy.