A Review: Tampa Bay 3-0 Fort Lauderdale
Date: Saturday February 21, 2026
Result: Tampa Bay 3-0 Fort Lauderdale
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (15 pts 2W-9D-6L); Fort Lauderdale United FC (18 pts 4W-7D-7L)
Standings: The Sun sit 9th in the USL Super League and United are in 8th.
Nothing helps a team quite like beating their closest rival – and beating them well. It should not be lost on Sun fans that getting three goals and three points against Fort Lauderdale doesn’t put their team back in the playoff hunt. However, it is the kind of performance that could – potentially – galvanize a team into further better performances. That’s exactly what they’ll be hoping for: a renewed and sustainable effort to defend Tampa Bay’s inaugural season title.
How much do we love playing Fort L?
Even including preseason games, Tampa Bay has never lost to their in-state rivals from down south. This goes through multiple regular season matches, the first ever USL Super League Final, and a pivotal tilt last Saturday. Needing a strong result, manager Denise Schilte-Brown found the right formula as well as the right opponent for her charges.
No more debutants appeared for the Sun last weekend. Even so, there were changes on the field. Liz Beardsley, after starting the first two games since winter break, was relegated to the bench. (This comes despite her recent call up to the US under-23 national team for a camp.) In her place, Emory Wegener got another shot at the position between the posts.
This seemed like an inspired call from DSB after the game. Wegener had some monster saves to keep things either close or, toward the end of the 90 minutes, flattering for the Sun. A defense of Taylor Chism, Brooke Hendrix, Viv Bessette, and Jordan Zade wasn’t too different to start. The latter of those made too many runs to the byline with too many crosses in her shift to count.
The way things worked out, Hendrix would find herself covering on the left side, with Bessette more central and Chism slightly to her right. Zade’s first priority, it seemed, was getting forward. But, she would also be responsible defensively. Sydny Nasello, naturally, helped provide width on the right. This was despite her recent injury scare and a knee brace during the match.
Nasello benefitted from some poor clearances in scoring the first goal. One of those fell to her, which was knocked back to Jordyn Listro. The shot from the latter fell right to the Sun’s top scorer, presumably exactly what FLOOTD would have wanted to avoid. Her shot wrong-footed the keeper, and the home side went into the break with the advantage – in not small part due to Wegener.
In the second half, positional changes allowed the Sun to respond to new movements from United. Nasello ended up playing as a de facto left back at times, with much more space afforded to attacking up Tampa Bay’s right side. Not to worry: she would still intercept the ball and carry it up the field to earn a penalty about ten minutes after halftime.
If an old adage in soccer is that those who earn a penalty shouldn’t take it, Sydny Nasello never heard it. She stepped up and stroked it home to put the match farther out of reach for Fort Lauderdale. She would come off later in the half; but, any fears of an injury did not impact her in a derby match. Depending on the rest of the season, we could look back on this as a certified Flu Game.
DSB stated in the post game press conference that the team were trying to isolate FLOOTD to parts of the field where they could apply pressure as a group and win the ball back. This paid off, as it led to all three goals. First down the left side, Listro helped corral the opponents. Then, on the second, Nasello won it back herself before going on a gut-busting run into the box.
Late in the game, the Sun initially lost possession off a throw-in before hemming in the United defenders trying to get rid of it. Nasello combined with Sandrine Gaillard who found a streaking Faith Webber. The striker earned her first ever professional goal by again beating the keeper near post. The team strategy worked to perfection, with some help from a change in net.
Whether or not this would work against teams who aren’t in a similar crisis is up in the air. The Blue and Gold rode their luck at times even against Fort Lauderdale. It should be noted that their recent struggles suggest the team was ripe for this, while the Sun have marginally been improving so far in 2026. To keep that going, they’ll likely need to tweak things for better opposition.
Player of the Game:
Liz: Sydny Nasello
JD: Sydny Nasello
