Home Opener vs. Sporting JAX Preview
Date: Saturday August 23, 2025
Result: Brooklyn 2-1 Tampa Bay
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (0 pts 0W-0D-1L); Sporting JAX (0 pts 0W-0D-1L)
Standings: The Sun sit 8th in the USL Super League while JAX are 9th – last.
It was an inauspicious start to the 2025-26 season for the clubs from Florida. The Sun started their match away from home slowly, only able to mount a comeback when time was ticking away. Sporting JAX on the other hand started well – after a massive rain delay – before folding. Even Fort Lauderdale could only manage a draw. Now the Sun host their new in-state rivals with bragging rights and first wins of the season on the line. Get your tickets now and make sure you’re a part of it!
What happened against Brooklyn?
Playing on a baseball field is never ideal. That being said, the Sun can’t blame their result on the conditions surrounding the game. The only possible off-the-field factor is the simple fact that there was no preseason game against proper competition. Players may or may not have had true game-situation understanding of each other. That said, only two new players started.
The majority should surely have had a good feel for their teammates on the pitch. A common issue with a shortened preseason is a lack of 90-minute fitness. This was also not a real issue for the Sun, as it was the final ten minutes and stoppage time that the team looked their best. So, if it wasn’t all these potential issues, what happened up in Coney Island?
Two good chances around the ten minute mark suggested the wings were going to be the most dangerous area for Brooklyn. If not for some wasteful finishing from Sofia Lewis, the home team could’ve started even better. Tampa Bay continued with their usual attacking tactics from the season prior: active play down the wings and combination with attacking midfielder Carlee Giammona.
Jordan Zade also wasted two big chances to take the lead early in the second half. This set the stage for Brooklyn. The home side kept trying their luck with experienced striker Catherine Zimmerman waiting up top. In the 56th minute, a long ball out of the back found one of the attacking midfielders, whose looping header was directed toward Zimmerman.
The attacker did an incredible job holding off Viv Bessette to swing her body around and rip a shot off. Keeper Sydney Schneider had no chance of saving it, such was the power and precision. Any tactical talk went out the window for that goal. It was seemingly just a hit-it-and hope play from Brooklyn’s defense. All the individual work from Zimmerman made it count.
Another chance gone begging for the Sun punctuated the next goal for the home side. Giammona will be thinking about what could have been if she’d put that in rather than Brooklyn’s Annie Williams off a corner. Williams had entered the field just ahead of the set piece; it was her first touch of the ball. Unknowingly, she sealed the win for the New Yorkers.
Tampa Bay stepped up the pressure following that goal. In stoppage time, Sydny Nasello picked up where she’d left off last season by putting a ball in the box that deflected into the path of one of her teammates. Giammona was able to put this one away; but, it was too late. After the final whistle, manager Denise Schilte-Brown thought the injury time period was cut short.
Player of the Game:
Liz: Jordan Zade
Tom: Jordan Zade
How do we get our first win?
In their first week of professional play, Sporting Jax lined up in a rough 3-5-2. They were delayed significantly in actually getting started due to thunderstorms. However, for those fans who stuck around, they saw a pretty good opening 45 minutes. Jax scored early and, even though they conceded before halftime, had done well in other moments.
The home side almost brute forced their way in to score their first ever goal. Sheer numbers in the way of a clearance, and a possible lack of focus from DC, allowed the ball to bobble back in front of Jax attackers multiple times before the final shot went off. The way it was struck, nobody was saving it. With that, English midfielder Jade Pennock wrote her name into the history books.
After that, though, the visitors were able to settle down a bit. Despite the torrential downpour and subsequent near flooding of the field, DC attempted to possess the ball and play through an energetic Jacksonville press. The Power look a different side from last year, and their willingness to keep the ball mostly on the ground paid off with multiple chances as well as a goal.
Jacksonville’s keeper Kaitlyn Parks will want that first goal back. However, the two goals that followed were both down to DC’s good work. High pressure earned Gianna Gourley her second of the game as well as what turned into the winner. The Power’s third goal came from some fluid play where attackers switched the ball from one side to the other quickly. This is intriguing.
What will stand out for the Sun coaching staff is how replicable these goals looked. Sporting have a young team: only three players were over the age of 24. Despite Jacksonville’s best efforts, it seemed like multiple problems started to creep into their game as time wore on. They were largely unable to deal with DC’s attempts to play the ball out of the back all night.
The Sun have no problem playing in a similar way. Even more so, they will like how effective an out-of-possession press appears to be. Jax didn’t have the wherewithal or the experience to keep the ball under pressure. This will be music to DSB’s ears. Beyond that, a potential lack of fitness impacted the home side toward the end. At this level, 90 minutes seems like forever.
There’s a lot to work with for the Sun on the training field. They should utilize their ability to play out of pressure – and apply it when they don’t have the ball. There’s a ton of skill amongst the attacking players in Blue and Gold. If they stick to the one-touch, give-and-go style DC used last week, there should be no doubt the Sun can go and replicate the same result or better.
RBLR Score Predictions:
Lizzie: 2-0 W
Tom: 3-1 W
Yurika: 2-0 W
James: 3-1 W
RBLR Score Predictions Standings:
Lizzie: 0
Tom: 0
Yurika: 0
James: 0
