Tampa Bay Sun Weekly – DC Up Next
Date: Saturday September 12, 2026
Result: Tampa Bay 2-1 Fort Lauderdale
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (7 pts 2W-1D-1L); Fort Lauderdale United (3 pts 1W-0D-3L)
Standings: The Sun are 4th in the USL Super League and United are 7th.
The Sun have not lost against Fort Lauderdale in any of their 11 historic meetings, the first of which was a preseason game in the summer of 2024. That hoodoo continued this past weekend when the Blue and Gold earned another three points off their opponents from down south in Teal and Blue. It was a perfectly weird night on the river, which will hopefully set them up to go away to DC and earn another important W in the sprint season.
Can we play FLOOTD every week?
Last Saturday was a weird night for Sun fans. That isn’t because of the final result; they’re used to seeing such wins. But, along the way, Fort Lauderdale offered a surprise that could only be beat by the added impact of failing floodlights. Perhaps the break in between was what the team needed to turn the game around, considering the winning goals came afterwards.
Manager Denise Schilte-Brown made one change to the side that defeated Carolina away from home the week before: Alexis Theoret made her first appearance in Blue and Gold after signing from DC Power. Seemingly, DSB is getting more comfortable with her current players, and she said almost as much in the post game press conference.
Despite that, it was the visitors who opened the scoring. A slow reaction from the home defense allowed winger Farrah Walters to run down the flank before cutting the ball back into the box. It was behind both center backs, with only Leah Scarpelli making an attempt to block the eventual goalscorer. That was obviously insufficient, and Sh’Nia Gordon slid the ball into the net.
This was midway through the first half, and Tampa Bay rode their luck once or twice when they were caught out of position at the back as well. The aforementioned Gordon hit the cross bar under heavier pressure from Scarpelli right before the interval. The second half was where things got interesting, though, starting with an unforeseen delay in the game.
Normally, at the higher levels, injuries and the like do not cause the clock to stop. However, this was not a normal instance. The floodlights never came on, and the ref decided it was too dark to continue playing safely. The game could have been called, with the delay lasting until all the lights around the stadium were on and would stay on. It was almost a metaphor for the Sun on the field.
Substitute Tori Zierenberg came on in the 64th minute before leveling the game in the 65th. With just about everyone sticking around for the full game, they got to see the start of the Tampa Bay comeback. Who else but Sydny Nasello would kickstart this play, laying a perfectly weighted ball in behind the United defense. Zierenberg hit it first time, finding the opposite corner.
The Sun’s attacking patterns were picking up speed, while defensively the team did a much better job to shut up the shop. Momentum had clearly swung all the way in one direction, and the only thing left to do was to scratch out a winner. Shea Connors dutifully continued to knock and door, eventually putting one in via a deflection off an opposing defender’s knee.
After the game, she mentioned how she has traveled a lot over the course of her career. She said it was unlikely fans would’ve stuck around under such conditions in other places she’d played – or at least, not as many. She’s started the season well, with three goals in four matches so far. One assumes she might be on her way to winning fans’ hearts this year.
Player of the Game:
Liz: Shea Connors
JD: Sydny Nasello
Date: Friday September 18 at 7:00 pm at Audi Field
Upcoming Game: DC Power vs. Tampa Bay Sun
Can we get three on the bounce?
Tampa Bay are back on the road this week. They’ll be seeking another three points to boost their hopes of returning to the playoffs. In their way is the side that’s actually one place behind them in the league table: DC Power. The Blue and White have an almost identical record, only having one more loss after playing one more game thus far.
DC have earned some impressive results early on in this sprint season, beating Lexington in Kentucky and earning a draw at home vs. Sporting Jax. They have returned a few players from the prior year, including their current danger up top, Loza Abera. The Ethiopian international first joined the Power in 2024; however, it has taken her a while to really get going there.
In her five matches to start the season, she has three goals already. This will be an interesting test for the Sun defense. The team had some shaky moments against FLOOTD, as noted above. Against a better team, or just with a more in-form striker, one or two of those could go in. It could be the difference between hitting the woodwork and going 2-0 up.
DSB has stuck with her backline of Taylor Chism, Viv Bessette, Kelsey Hill, and Leah Scarpelli. They cannot switch off this week on the road like they did when Fort Lauderdale scored their first goal. DC, even if they’re not leading the league, likely has the skill and precision to maintain a lead that the team from south Florida might not.
On the attacking side, the Power haven’t kept a clean sheet all season. In four games, the Sun haven’t, either. But, it bodes well for an attack that seems to be starting to put things together. Tampa Bay have scored at least two in their last three games, and that doesn’t seem impossible to do again. Just for emphasis, the key to winning will be shoring up the defense.
Should DSB keep the same back four again, there are ways to prepare them for what is to come. The team, of course, has video to go over all week in preparation. They may want to keep players a bit deeper at times so as not to get caught so far from goal in transition. Bessette and Hill weren’t even in their own box when Fort Lauderdale went ahead, for instance.
Picking and choosing when to press, when to sit, and how players should align themselves to achieve those aims is the exact work of the coaching staff. Improvements are showing up in the team’s position on the table. Even so, Carolina and Jacksonville are already breaking away from the pack. They’ve sorted these out – mostly. When the Sun do, they’ll be up in those spots again.
RBLR Score Predictions:
Lizzie: 1-0 W
JD: 2-0 W
Yurika: 2-1 W
James: 1-1 D
RBLR Score Predictions Standings:
Lizzie: 4
JD: 1
Yurika: 7
James: 1
