Home vs. Brooklyn Preview
Date: Saturday February 22, 2025
Kickoff Time: 7:00 pm EST at Riverfront Stadium in Tampa, FL
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (21 pts 5W-6D-4L); Brooklyn FC (29 pts 9W-2D-3L)
Standings: The Sun are 4th in the Super League and Brooklyn are 1st.
The Sun have played two games in 2025, both of which ended in draws. There were positives to take from each, with good attacking displays in moments and strong pressing when out of possession. However, they also conceded first in each match. This is worrying with league-leading Brooklyn FC coming to town on Saturday. Make sure you get to Blake High School in Tampa to cheer the team on against this tough rival from up north!
What happened vs. Trinity?
The matchup was very interesting for a number of reasons. As stated in this column last week, Dallas made a huge splash in the transfer window, which coincided with the winter break in league play. Their flashy new signing, Lexi Missimo, seemingly immediately lived up to the hype by scoring in the first five minutes of the contest. A great start for the home team and a great start to her professional career.
However, it can’t be said that Trinity were dominating in that period or that they did for any large portion of the game afterwards. In fact, it was yet another chance for Tampa Bay fans to see their own side create good attacking moments and put great balls in the box – all for the majority of those to go wide or hit the wrong player. It’s both promising and, naturally, frustrating.
The Sun continued with their three-at-the-back system, using the same players as had started the prior match against Fort Lauderdale, Victoria Haugen, Brooke Hendrix, and Paige Almendariz. Haugen was making her professional debut the week before. She looked up for the challenge and hasn’t put a foot wrong seemingly despite a lack of experience.
On the other side of Hendrix was Almendariz. Fans reading this should not get the impression that Paige, as her shirt says, was directly at fault for the goal. Manager Denise Schilte-Brown has now subbed her off for the second game in a row, though. Substitutions before the halftime interval that aren’t for injuries are pretty rare in soccer, and Almendariz looked none too pleased to be taken off when she was.
Both the first goal and the huge chance for Dallas that immediately preceded Paige’s sub came down her left side of the defense. Trinity managed to play the ball into a forward’s feet, who then played it back to a midfielder, who found a third teammate running wide down the field in behind the first forward. Perhaps DSB thought Almendariz should’ve been wiser to these moves.
Regardless of that particular decision, Sydny Nasello was also on the left side, and in a more defensive role as a wingback, while Hendrix got dragged to the left by her own mark. Missimo ran into the open space behind them, completely untracked, and scored easily at the first of these. The second was lucky not to go in as an own goal when Jordan Zade attempted to clear it.
All this focus on the defense is crucial because, despite the Sun’s good attack, it is currently costing them points. Strikers Cecilie Floe and Tash Flint have five and four goals, respectively, while midfielder Carlee Giammona has six. These are great numbers. But, the Sun’s last shutout came in October against DC Power, who are only one point off bottom right now.
How do we stop Brooklyn?
The question moving ahead is how to correct this problem. DSB originally started playing with four at the back, those being Talia Staude, Vivianne Bessette, Hendrix, and Kristen Edmonds. The two fullbacks in that bunch are no longer with the club, while Bessette came on as Paige’s replacement in each of the last two games. There are other players missing higher up the field.
Jade Moore returned from an injury against Dallas, coming on with about 15 minutes left to play. While this is positive, fans won’t be sure she’s match-fit until she takes the field again. She can take up the spot next to Jordyn Listro, which will be open, as Andrea Hauksdottir will be away on international duty with Iceland. Moore was likely the prospective starter between them anyway.
One more problem arises with international duty as Cecilie Floe will be away representing Denmark at the under-23 level. She has been heavily involved in chance creation in 2025, chasing down long balls dumped into part of the field and working with Giammona to bring them back closer to goal. This will require either another switch in formation or a direct replacement.
Brooklyn, meanwhile, will be playing their first game back since winter break. This is likely the ideal time to have them on the schedule: there could be plenty of rust in getting back to game-speed. Plus, they’ll also be missing a player due to international duty, starting keeper Sydney Martinez, who’ll be away with the ever-improving Puerto Rican national team.
They’ll have a good backup in Neeku Purcell, a regular with the US national team at all youth age groups. All the other players that propelled Brooklyn up the table will be present as well, barring injuries which we haven’t learned about. They’re going to be dangerous and surely have the means to put the opposing backline under pressure. The Sun will have to stay calm.
Tampa Bay started the season trying to play a certain way. That required a lot of work and even some tweaking. At this point, DSB has switched things up more, putting her team in a different formation and making use of direct play that involves Floe on the left and Zade on the right. They have both shown good skill and speed to break past their markers and whip crosses in.
The Sun have also taken to pressing very aggressively out of possession. While they only scored one goal from it against Dallas, several more good chances came from this defending-from-the-front approach. No doubt they’ll be looking to catch some Brooklyn defender, still a little groggy from time off, and test the backup keeper as much as possible early on.
The visitors to Riverfront Stadium have only played 14 games so far this season, while the Sun are on 15. Winning this won’t put Tampa Bay right behind them and breathing down Brooklyn’s neck; but, it would put them level on points with Dallas and Carolina, both of whom have played 15. As it’s already February, every point matters immensely for playoff positions – and every goal scored or conceded just the same.
Score Predictions from the RBLR Sun Podcast:
Liz: 1-1 D
Tom: 2-1 L
Yurika: 2-1 W
James: 3-1 W
