Tampa Bay Sun Weekly – 2-1 W at CAR
Date: Saturday August 29, 2026
Result: Carolina 1-2 Tampa Bay
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (4 pts 1W-1D-1L); Carolina Ascent (6 pts 2W-0D-1L)
Standings: The Sun are 4th in the USL Super League and the Ascent are second.
After a draw and a loss, the Sun have now earned their first W of the campaign! In difficult conditions, the team pulled together and earned every one of the three points they took home. How did they do it, though? It was looking extremely tough going in, especially considering the hosts’ record. Truly, a fine defensive display helped the Blue and Gold find a way.
Are the Sun back?!
It is certainly too early to answer that question. However, the signs are trending in the right direction, to answer the query posed in this article last week. Carolina have spent much of their history in the USL Super League near the top. The Sun are less frequent guests to the top two, be that out of eight or nine teams in the league in total.
Not only are the Ascent perennial contenders – such as that can be deemed after only two full seasons – but they had won two games out of two played. Tampa Bay were (and are) still searching for their best formation, which doesn’t include all of their offseason signings. Some of those players have not yet arrived, with local fans hopeful for quick updates.
Carolina started the game well enough. They also generated more chances over the course of the whole match. Where the Sun really earned their stripes was in choosing how to handle the attacking play of the hosts throughout the game. Sometimes, they would sit deeper, absorbing pressure. In other moments, they pressed, earning a few chances of their own this way.
The first goal scored by the visitors is the perfect example of the latter. Shea Connors, who eventually found the back of the net from the penalty spot, saw her moment to pounce on a ball that was just a little too loose at the back for Carolina. Their center back Jenna Butler gave it away and Connors’s pass into the middle led to the call.
It wasn’t just Connors in that moment, though. The opposing defender was isolated due to the Sun’s right back, Jordan Zade, and the other attacker on the field, Erika Zschuppe. Zade stepped to the Ascent left winger, blocking off that angle. Zschuppe also prevented Butler from just hoofing the ball away. With all her angles cut off, the giveaway was much more likely.
The game was not over yet, of course. Carolina had been banging on the door for a while before they equalized after halftime. Unfortunately, on set pieces, a goal can come from anything. Marking surely could have been better. But, the fact of the matter is any team will give away some number of corner kick goals every season. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.
The reaction, though, is where the Sun really earned their pay. Manager Denise Schilte-Brown had made a few substitutions right before the goal went in. They helped to bring the game back into parity, despite the sequence that followed on the corner (and another one after the goal). Tampa Bay would not be held back in this one, though.
Riding their luck ever so slightly, they kept their own pressure up when they felt secure enough to push the ball forward. Zade, who’s been playing well so far this shortened season, continued her run into Ascent territory before putting a ball in between a few defenders. That ball found Darya Rajaee, who in turn found Sydny Nasello waiting near the top of the box.
Her slide was enough to put it into the corner past Sydney Martinez in net. The visitors were unfortunate not to score again, with the ever-threatening Nasello smacking one off the bar later on. It was a game that Tampa Bay never fully dominated; but, they knew they didn’t need to. Getting the result is obviously more than enough here.
Growing into their positions, players are able to handle the instructions and keep the game on even terms. There were too many instances during the 2025-26 campaign in which a game was lost before the attack had a chance to get going. More like this show the Sun are better are handling adversity, and possibly have what they need to build up some patterns of their own.
Player of the Game:
Liz: Cristina Roque
JD: Sydny Nasello
