On an unseasonably warm December afternoon in Fair Park, Dallas Trinity went toe-to-toe with unbeaten Lexington SC and came away with a 1–1 draw that carried some weight. In front of 2,204 supporters at the Cotton Bowl, The Golden Girls conceded in the first half, responded through a driven free kick from Chioma Ubogagu, then leaned on Rylee Foster and a disciplined back line to close out a match that demanded toughness from start to finish. Dallas moves to 6–5–2 with 20 points heading into the winter break. Lexington remains unbeaten at 5–0–9 with 24 points.
Head Coach Chris Petrucelli rolled out a familiar setup, returning to the 4-4-2 he has trusted through the club’s recent upward turn. The only significant change was in midfield, where Maya McCutcheon stepped into a starting role, while Hannah Davison, Amber Wisner, Samar Guidry, and Cyera Hintzen held the back line in front of Foster.
Lexington set the tone from the opening whistle. Their press was organized, aggressive, and relentless, forcing Dallas into uncomfortable moments almost immediately. In the sixth minute, McKenzie Weinert slipped through and found herself alone inside the box. Rylee Foster read it early, charged off her line, and extended to her left to turn the shot away. It was a strong save, the kind that keeps a team settled, but it did not slow Lexington’s intent.
The visitors kept coming. Shots from distance. Runs wide. Waves of pressure. The Dallas back line had to be sharp, and often they were. Wisner cut out a dangerous look in the box. Guidry blocked another. Foster collected routine work and difficult moments alike. Still, Trinity struggled to move the ball with any rhythm. Forward passes died quickly. The attackers saw little of the ball in meaningful areas. This was Lexington’s match to that point, and Dallas was doing everything just to stay in it.
The breakthrough came in the 28th minute on a corner that summed up the half. The service bounced awkwardly in the area, bodies crashed, and the ball fell cleanly to Allison Pantuso, the former Oregon State Beaver, who slipped it past Foster from close range. It felt inevitable. It also felt earned.
Dallas showed flashes and spirit. There were moments of possession. There were tackles that mattered. But the half belonged to Lexington. The Golden Girls defended hard, absorbed pressure, and fought to get to halftime without the match getting away from them.
They did. And that mattered.
The halftime message was straightforward:
“Play quicker,” Petrucelli said. “Because of the counter pressing, play quicker. We backed out of a couple of tackles in the first half. I do not think we backed out in the second half. In the second half, we went in hard.”
Dallas came out sharper and more assertive. In the 49th minute, Tamara Bolt was dragged down on a free run, earning an important free kick. Trinity kept pressing off that restart, and moments later, a handball at the top of the box gave Dallas the chance they needed. Lexington built a ten-player wall. Katherine Asman, the league leader in clean sheets and a former Penn State Nittany Lion, waited.
Ubogagu stepped up in the 53rd minute and buried it low and hard past Asman to level the match.
“At halftime, we knew we were still in the game, and we could just take our chances, and something would come,” Ubogagu said. “At first, I thought it was for a righty… were just talking about shielding the ball to where the keeper couldn’t see. Lexington shifted the wall, and they opened up for a lefty. I just wanted to keep it on frame, and keep it low, and make it difficult for the keeper to see. I am super grateful it finally went in for me before Christmas.”
Dallas nearly grabbed a lead minutes later, but the field betrayed Allie Thornton on a clean look when an ugly bounce wrecked the strike. From there, the match turned back into a test of resilience. Lexington kept pushing. Dallas kept answering.
The defining tension came in the 68th minute when Lexington won a penalty. Emina Ekic stepped up to take it. She slowed her run, opened her body, and sent the shot toward the right side. Foster read it, went full stretch, and got just enough to push it wide and over the line. It was not just a save. It was a match-bending moment that steadied Trinity and swung momentum back their way.
“Clumsy and frustrating moment to give that up,” Davison said. “But you feel really confident having Rylee behind you. She is phenomenal. She is great. Just a big momentum shift to have her block that.”
Lexington did not fade. They kept coming. Dallas refused to break. Foster absorbed a heavy collision late, stayed down briefly, stayed in, and finished the job. The back line organized and cleared. The Golden Girls managed the chaos. The supporters behind the goal stayed loud through every tense stretch.
When it ended, it did not feel like a team hanging on. It felt like a team showing it belonged.
“They are a really good side,” Davison said. “They have not suffered a loss this year, and we were right there competing with them. I was pretty proud of how we came together as a team.”
For Petrucelli, the result mattered beyond the ninety minutes.
“I feel good about where we are at,” he said. “We went through that skid, and it would have been really easy to pack it in, but they fought hard.”
And as the club turns toward the winter break and the stretch run ahead, Ubogagu believes there is still another level waiting to be reached.
“I think we have so much more to give,” she said. “I do not think we have tapped into our potential. I think we can keep the ball a lot more. I think we can score a lot more goals. We have put ourselves in position to keep fighting for the second half of the season. I am proud of our resilience, to just kind of grind things out.”
Dallas Trinity FC now enters a six week winter break at 6–5–2 with 20 points. Lexington remains unbeaten at 5–0–9 with 24 points.
Dallas returns on Saturday, January 31 at 4:00 p.m. CT, hosting Brooklyn FC at the Cotton Bowl in a match celebrating Black History Month. The match streams on Peacock.