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Wednesday May 20th it was announced that Stephanie Roche’s time at the Houston Dash has come to a premature end after the club announced on their official website that the Republic of Ireland International would not make the club’s 20 player roster for the remainder of the season.

Roche an established Irish international, who first came to fame when her goal against Wexford Youths in the Continental Tyres Women’s National League went viral and was nominated for the FIFA Puskas award, subsequently finishing runner up to Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez receiving over 1 million votes.

The 25 year old Dubliner had only previously signed with the Dash in February 2015 after a short spell in France with ASPTT Albi. Steph made her National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) debut for the American club against the Washington Spirit on the opening weekend of the season as a second half substitute.

Dash head coach Randy Waldrum commented that in order to bring in new signings somebody had to miss out and unfortunately it was Stephanie.

“I really would have liked to have given her the time to be with us a season because I think she was getting better and better and adapting, as I told her, as bad as we have been defensively, we had to make some moves.

“Two internationals, and the international spots being so critical, we had to let somebody go.”

The Dash coach added that the restrictions of the NWSL roster where only 20 players are permitted, it was imperative that the top players were given regular game too and this was a contributing factor in the club's decisions.