Sun FC Match Review: 1-1 Draw at FLOOTD
Date: Saturday March 8, 2025
Result: Fort Lauderdale 1-1 Tampa Bay
Records: Tampa Bay Sun (23 pts 5W-8D-4L); Fort Lauderdale United FC (28 pts 8W-4D-5L)
Standings: The Sun stayed at 5th in the table.
In what has become a bit routine for Sun fans, their side was only able to muster a draw against Fort Lauderdale United. It was, in fact, their fourth straight tie, and the third in three games against this opposition. FLOOTD have proven to be a good team, especially through 2025. In that sense, this is nothing to sneeze at. In another, though, there are dropped points consistently for Tampa Bay this year. It will start to affect playoff positions very soon.
Why can’t we beat this team?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a 1-1 result between Tampa Bay and Fort Lauderdale. It was another game that was back and forth, with good chances coming for both sides. This one did not include any late goals, though, and everything was effectively done and dusted by halftime – at least on the scoresheet. Now let’s add a little more nuance to the conversation.
Fort Lauderdale’s high-power attack started this match well, getting the opening goal before ten minutes had passed. United continually looked for lanes to get their players closer to the Sun net, going down their left side and then right in the lead up to their strike. Winger Sh’Nia Gordon got her third assist of the year when her cross found the opposite winger, Jasmine Hamid, streaking across the box.
In this particular instance, Jordan Zade lost her mark. Hamid had a relatively easy job to do when the ball got to her. Redirect it back on net and Sun keeper Ashley Orkus had no chance to get there. As with almost every goal, though, it did not come down to one defender’s efforts. Gordon was able to get in between Sydny Nasello and Paige Almendariz as well to cut the ball back in the first place.
Paige would make up for it later luckily, getting an assist after she floated a ball up where Cecilie Fløe could reach it. The latter found herself in so much space, in fact, that the Fort Lauderdale defense seemed wholly convinced she was offside. The ref didn’t call it that way and, as the announcer stated, VAR has not come to the Super League. That meant it was indeed a tie game.
Both sides had moments of sloppy possession, giving it away in bad areas or needlessly losing the ball in the midst of a promising buildup. Major chances came for both teams off the back of these errors, with Fort Lauderdale actually benefiting from their own player completely misplaying the ball in what ended up a perfect pass to her teammate. This led to them eventually hitting the post early in the second half.
Again it was a game where fans could see there is no love lost between the two clubs from Florida. Bad passes followed bad tackles and vice versa. To venture into some speculation, it looked at times as though players were in their own heads a bit, trying to avoid a mistake or focusing too much on winning a duel against someone they’re simply too familiar with now after 270 minutes of shared un-pleasantries .
Defensively, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa Bay were able to settle down enough to keep each other at bay for the second 45 minutes. One could view this result as a let down. It always had potential to burst to life; whereas mostly it played out cagey and stilted, neither side wanting to be the first to lose to the other. Why push in certain moments if you could end up getting caught out of position for it?
On the other hand, it could also be another notching up of tension between the Sun and United. Eventually, one of these teams will have to win in this fixture. Two so far have had late equalizers. But, the opposite is just as likely: while one team pushes to draw their side level, the other takes advantage and scores again to give themselves a bigger cushion.
Sun fans will stay hoping it’s the Blue and Gold who do.
Player of the Game:
Liz: Cecilie Fløe
Tom: Cecilie Fløe
RBLR Score Predictions Standings:
Lizzie: 15
Tom: 8
Yurika: 8
James: 7
