Away to Carolina Ascent Preview
Date: Friday September 27, 2024
Kickoff Time: 7:30 pm EST at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, NC
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (5 pts 1W-2D-1L); Carolina Ascent FC (10 pts 3W-1D-0L)
Standings: The Sun are 4th in the Super League and Carolina are 1st.
Two weeks ago, the Tampa Bay Sun lost for the first time in their history. Playing against Brooklyn in front of a home crowd, they were unable to put all the pieces together from a strong performance the week before that, in which they earned their first ever win. Now they will go on the road to face the league leading Ascent in Charlotte, North Carolina. Join the team for their watch party in Tampa, with details on their social media and website!
Why couldn’t we score against Brooklyn?
The Sun have had a lot of tinkering take place in just four games. From very early on, it seemed like manager Denise Schilte-Brown wanted to instill a style of soccer that allowed for her most important players to be heavily involved. One of those in particular has been mentioned frequently in this column: defender-cum-midfielder Jordyn Listro.
She started out the year for Tampa Bay as a right back who would step into the midfield when in possession. There, she would play alongside her partner in the center of the park, Wasila Diwura-Soale. It was the job of the former to playmake while it was the job of the latter to pester the opposition and help maintain possession most often by winning the ball back.
Listro would only have to worry in situations where Diwura-Soale could not win the ball back immediately. At that point, she would have to skate back to her defensive position and do what she could to help out there. The numbers advantage in midfield should allow them, in theory, to dominate in that area of the field and hopefully draw attention to themselves.
As opposition would gather around them, the wingers who have been so important to the Sun already would have the space to operate – again, in theory. It has happened sparingly so far. More recently, Listro has just been moved into the midfield full time after Talia Staude was brought in on loan. She has since become the starting right back.
Unfortunately, progression since then has not been linear. A very good match against Lexington (who haven’t looked brilliant so far) was followed by a less incisive display against Brooklyn. While the latter team is having a lot of problems off the pitch at the moment, it has not affected their play on it. They remain unbeaten despite having played two tough teams away from home.
Brooklyn was particularly able to stifle ball progression with the ball in the last match where Listro played as an out-and-out defensive midfielder. Samantha Kroeger filled in that role for the visitors from New York and was praised in multiple outlets – including the Sun’s own recap – for her role. The players in front of Listro were not able to find much joy with Kroeger roaming.
Erika Tymrak and Sydny Nasello were the nominal wingers. Although Tymrak is often more central, this didn’t always cause issues with Diwura-Soale often dropping deeper. Carlee Giammona in between them was never offered enough space to work, though. As an attacking midfielder, her connection with striker Riley Parker is not fully developed yet. They have each started all four games, but still seem disconnected at times when moving forward.
How have the Ascent put it all together so quickly?
On the other side of things, Carolina look like a team that have played together far longer than their own four matches. They are a team that will build out of the back and never look uncomfortable doing so. Going through their roster, it’s clear they have a lot of professional experience as a group. Putting it all together has been the goal for manager Philip Poole.
Their central midfield captain, Taylor Porter, has been instrumental to their success so far. Starting alongside Giovanna DeMarco, the two of them have a real rhythm early on and seem to know the tendencies of the central defenders behind them. Of those two, Vicky Bruce has had a long career at the highest level and their combined know-how has certainly paid off.
Porter and DeMarco will be players who receive the ball from the aforementioned Bruce or her partner Sydney Studer. They will look to keep the ball on the ground, maintain possession by interacting with the players ahead of them, and, most importantly, by interacting with the players on the flanks for the Ascent. They can overwhelm opposition fullbacks this way.
All the numbers outside allow the Carolina wingers a lot of time and space on the ball. This is where two players with NWSL experience, Puerto Rican international Jill Aguilera and American Rylee Baisden, have already been able to rack up the assists. Each has two helpers, while Baisden provided Aguilera the chance to score her first goal in the USL Super League as well.
The Sun will have to be as sharp as they can to avoid the problems these players can cause working in tandem. The other thing to consider, though, is the availability of new players who arrived this past week to Florida. Striker Natasha Flint was greeted by some of the Tampa Bay fans while English and Danish internationals Jade Moore and Cecilie Floe arrived later.
These players may not be on the bench immediately. This is obviously a very quick turnaround to be match fit after roughly seven days. However, if they are, they could provide a much needed spark in the offensive output. Moore in particular will be very welcome for her tactical nous. (Let us remember her long career for the senior English national team.)
If the Sun can put Carolina under more pressure when they inevitably try to build out of the back, steady and disciplined in their gameplan, that could bode well for the visitors from Florida. Of course, the Ascent have some idea of how to play through an opposition’s press, as it has done so to great effect multiple times this season.
When Moore, Floe, and Flint are an option, the midfield may change again, if not the whole shape of the team on the pitch. They will have to adapt to a new philosophy first, meaning it is important for the players out there now to step up against the league leaders. This will be the toughest test yet in a young campaign; but, it will be a great indicator of where the ladies are as a group.
Score Predictions from the RBLR Sun Podcast:
Lizzie: 1-1 D
Tom: 1-1 D
Yurika: 2-1 W
James: 1-1 D
