USL Super League | Friday, May 1, 2026 | 7:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. CT Audi Field | Washington, D.C. Broadcast: KFAA, WFAA+, Peacock, TUDN Radio
Dallas Trinity FC (9-10-6, 33 points) heads to Audi Field on Friday evening for the biggest match of its season. DC Power FC (8-9-8, 32 points) sits one point behind in fifth, and the math is simple. A Dallas win puts distance between the Golden Girls and the chasing pack with two matches remaining and eliminates Brooklyn from playoff contention. A DC win moves them into fourth and drops Dallas below the playoff line for the first time since January.
The clubs drew 1-1 at this venue on March 12, Loza Abera opening the scoring before Bethany Bos equalized before halftime, and the all-time series is dead level at two wins apiece with three draws. Friday is the tiebreaker that matters.
Dallas has not looked like a playoff team for most of the spring. One win in the last eight matches. Three wins in 12 spring matches, tied for third-fewest in the league. The attack has produced one goal in the last three games, a 90th-minute equalizer from a substitute at Brooklyn. The performances at Carolina and Brooklyn were slightly better than the results suggest, but Nathan Thackeray‘s side has not been able to finish what it starts, and the margin for that kind of wastefulness is gone. It’s do or die in DC on Friday night.
DC has found form at exactly the right time. Back-to-back wins, capped by a 4-0 demolition of Fort Lauderdale at Rowdy Audi last Wednesday, the first time the club has scored four in a Super League match. Alyssa Walker has six game-winning goals this season, the most in a single Super League campaign, and Omid Namazi‘s group has scored six times across the last two matches after struggling to find the net for most of March. This is not the team Dallas drew in this building seven weeks ago.
Recovery Report
Dallas Trinity FC: Heather Stainbrook (lower leg) is out. Wayny Balata (lower leg) is out.
DC Power FC: Susanna Fitch (foot) is out.
The Bigger Picture
The playoff picture entering Friday is straightforward. Sporting JAX, Lexington, and Carolina have clinched. Fourth place is the last spot, and Dallas holds it by a point. A win Friday and Dallas controls its own fate heading into a trip to Tampa Bay and a home finale against Fort Lauderdale. A loss and DC leapfrogs them on 35 points, leaving Dallas needing results just to stay alive.
Dallas Trinity
Thackeray will likely match last week’s lineup with Amber Wisner moving to her natural position in the double pivot alongside Caroline Swann. Maya McCutcheon partners Lauren Flynn at center back. Sealey Strawn starts up top. Jasmine Hamid and Chioma Ubogagu take the wings with Lexi Missimo behind the striker.
Dallas needs goals. They have scored once in three matches. The attack has created chances and converted almost none of them. Hamid sits on 13 career regular-season goals, two short of a milestone only five players have reached in league history. She has not scored since arriving in Dallas. Friday is the night that needs to change.
Amber Wisner — The captain enters Friday on 4,770 consecutive regular-season minutes played. She needs 230 of a possible 270 over the final three matches to become the first player in Super League history to reach 5,000 regular-season minutes. Her move into midfield alongside Swann gave Dallas a different shape at Brooklyn, and Thackeray is expected to keep it. What Wisner does in the middle of the park against a DC attack that has scored six in two matches will determine whether Dallas controls this match or spends it defending again.
Jasmine Hamid — Four matches in a Dallas kit without a goal. The chances have been there. The finishes have not. DC has conceded in five of their last six, and the back line has been reorganized without Fitch for weeks now. Hamid needs to find the net. Dallas cannot afford another match where they create and don’t convert.
Tyler McCamey — Five saves at Brooklyn. Six saves against Carolina the week before. McCamey has been the reason Dallas is still in fourth place. She has 36 saves on the season across 12 matches. DC has scored six in their last two, and Abera, Walker, and Hannah Richardson are all capable of punishing mistakes. McCamey will be tested again on Friday, and Dallas needs her to be as sharp as she has been.
DC Power FC
Namazi has used four different formations in DC’s last four matches. What stays consistent is the spine: Samantha Cummings captains from midfield, Erin Colton controls tempo alongside her, Abby Bagley anchors the defense, and Walker provides the goal threat from wide. Abera leads the line. Paige Almendariz plays in the back, a defender who leads the club in tackles with 72 on the season and recently signed a contract extension through 2026-27. The attacking pieces are intact and in form.
Loza Abera — She scored against Dallas in the March meeting at this venue and has been DC’s most consistent forward all season. She is direct, physical, and dangerous in the air. Dallas’ back line will need to deal with her all evening.
Alyssa Walker — Six game-winning goals this season, the most in a single Super League campaign. Five goals since arriving during the winter break. She scored the winner against Fort Lauderdale last week and has been the addition that changed DC’s season. If Dallas doesn’t account for her, she will make them pay.
Samantha Cummings — The captain and the player everything runs through in DC’s midfield. She has started every match and carries the ball under pressure as well as anyone in the league. Wisner and Swann will be matched up against her for most of the evening.
What’s at Stake
Friday doesn’t end the season for either side, but it could define it. Dallas has a trip to Tampa Bay and a home finale against Fort Lauderdale remaining. DC has Sporting JAX at home and a trip to Spokane. The schedule is harder for DC on paper, which makes Friday even more critical for Namazi’s side. For Dallas, the equation is the same one it has been for a month: find a way to win, or watch the playoff picture close around them.
PROJECTED DALLAS TRINITY FC LINEUP (4-2-3-1): Tyler McCamey; Cyera Hintzen, Maya McCutcheon, Lauren Flynn, Samar Guidry; Amber Wisner (C), Caroline Swann; Chioma Ubogagu, Lexi Missimo, Jasmine Hamid; Sealey Strawn
PROJECTED DC POWER FC LINEUP (3-5-2): Morgan Aquino; Abby Bagley, Paige Almendariz, Samantha Cummings (C); Alyssa Walker, Jordan Gaynor, Erin Colton, Claire Constant, Maddie Gottschalk; Hannah Richardson, Loza Abera