Seven Castain, LJ Moore and Kalea Eichenberger scored in a 15-minute span after Taylor Smith’s second yellow, and Kaiya Brewer became the youngest player to appear for Dallas.
Dallas Trinity spent 58 minutes looking for a way through Fort Lauderdale United, then scored three times in 15 minutes once the visitors went down to 10.
The 3-0 win at the Cotton Bowl on Sunday was Dallas’s first in the league since Sept. 18, and its third goal was set up by a 15-year-old making her professional debut.
The pitch sat almost entirely in shadow by kickoff, under cloud on an afternoon in the upper 70s.
Dallas wore its Sunrise Maroon Illuminate kit. Fort Lauderdale played in white shirts, blue shorts and white socks.
A crowd of 2,116 came out for Youth Sports Night, Dallas’s first league match at Fair Park since Sept. 13.
Lee Nguyen made three changes from the 1-0 loss at DC Power. Carissa Boeckmann started at right back with Giulianna Gianino out of the 18. Jamie Shepherd and Felicia Knox sat in front of the back four, with Sofia Cedeño at the 10 between Camryn Lancaster and Jasmine Hamid, and Seven Castain alone up top. Aria Nagai and Onyeka Gamero dropped to the bench. Sophia Braun captained the side with her left wrist still in a cast. Meila Brewer was in Morocco, and her younger sister Kaiya Brewer was named to a matchday squad for the first time.
Fort Lauderdale interim head coach Paul Jennison made two changes from the 0-0 draw with Carolina Ascent. Daniela Todd started beside Taylor Smith in midfield, with All-League Second Team midfielder Kelli Van Treeck on the bench. Kelsey Oyler came in at left back, moving Abigail Hugh into the attacking band in place of Farrah Walters.
Outworking the Press
United came into the match at the bottom of the table, but you wouldn’t know it by the way they came out pressing. The Golden Girls settled in fast though, and held the ball well early, outworking the press. In the 13th minute Hamid and Boeckmann combined down the right, and Castain shot from a tight angle and missed.
Fort Lauderdale’s best chance of the afternoon came seven minutes later. Sh’nia Gordon hit a low left-footed shot off a Hugh pass from just outside the six-yard box, and Neeku Purcell, still recovering from the sequence before it, dove to her right to save.
“Just for me as a goalkeeper, it’s being a pessimist, like, always being ready for the unexpected,” Purcell said afterward.
Maggy Henschler was left unmarked on a cross in the 22nd minute and headed just wide. Moments later Hamid ran into the box after a Lancaster shot and knocked over Haley Craig, and the foul went against Dallas.
Smith was booked in the 24th minute for a bad foul on Hamid, earning the first yellow card of the night.
The half turned physical, with plenty of collisions and little rhythm on the ball. Knox opened a lane to Hamid in the 35th minute, but Hamid’s touch ran away from her. Gordon fired wide in the 40th, and in the 43rd Braun went to ground with a sliding tackle to end another Gordon run.
It was 0-0 at the break, with the Golden Girls once again leading the possession stat with 68%, but just five shots to show for it. Just one of those was on frame.
Fort Lauderdale captain Haley Thomas told the broadcast at halftime that her side needed more options centrally to break Dallas down. “In transition, I think we can get them,” she said.
Halftime adjustments
Nguyen and Braun were deep in conversation on the walk to the tunnel. Nguyen said the subject was Braun’s rotation in the build-up and how Fort Lauderdale’s striker was treating it.
“We were gonna see if the nine was gonna take away [Braun] as the switch option. And the first half they did,” Nguyen said. “She didn’t need to rotate as much. We can still use her as a switch to be able to get it through the side quickly. And so I felt like it was really easy to get it back and forth once we did that.”
LJ Moore came on for Shepherd at halftime and played as the striker, with Castain moving into the attacking midfield role. Cedeño dropped deeper, and Hamid and Lancaster tucked in closer to the middle.
It created a chance within two minutes, a ball across the box that Moore could not quite reach. Hamid curled one just wide of the top corner not long after, in the 52nd minute.
A Sending Off
Smith fouled Cedeño in the 58th minute and was shown a second yellow card, and was subsequently sent off.
“I think ultimately that pressure led to the card. It also led to the goals,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen made his second change of the night when Kalea Eichenberger replaced Boeckmann in the 65th minute. Moore dropped to right back, Eichenberger went to the right wing, and Hamid moved to the top of the attack. Castain put a shot just over a minute later.
Dallas kept running into the offside flag much of the night, first Hamid and then Eichenberger. They were caught offside eight times.
Set-Piece Pickup
Lancaster, busy all afternoon, earned a free kick in a dangerous spot in the 70th minute. Knox took the kick that went straight at goal, Craig couldn’t corral it, and Castain poked in the loose ball. It rolled over the line slowly in the 71st minute.
“Even when I miss a shot, it’s like, can you stay in the game and can you find another one?” Castain said.
It was her fourth goal of the fall, level with Hamid for the team lead, and her second in three matches. “As a forward, your goal is to always score goals… You have to believe you are the best of the best, and I feel that I am. I’m still finding my groove as a professional,” she said after the match.
Gordon nearly answered two minutes later, chasing a long ball out of Fort Lauderdale’s goal as Purcell came off her line to meet it. It would be United’s last gasp of the night.
Cheesman From Deep, First for Moore
Dallas began to play over the top and play more freely. In the 75th minute Sydney Cheesman lifted a ball from about 30 yards out, and Moore, unmarked, headed it in for a 2-0 lead. It was Moore’s professional goal. Cheesman’s assist was her second of the season.
Eichenberger got into the box in the 80th minute and just missed. In the 82nd, Nagai replaced Castain and Kaiya Brewer came on for Hamid.
Brewer to Eichenberger; First Goal, First Assist
Four minutes into her young career, Brewer set up Eichenberger for the third goal. It was the first goal of Eichenberger’s professional career, and the first assist of Brewer’s.
“I thought Kalea did well. LJ did well. Kaiya did well,” Nguyen said. “And so just being able to keep the game, the majority of the second half, in their half, I think it led to all those three goals.”
Dallas finished with 26 shots to two, 10 of them on target, and close to two-thirds of the ball. Craig made seven saves. Purcell made one, the 20th-minute stop on Gordon, and kept her second clean sheet of the fall.
“We’ve been talking a lot about keeping [clean sheets] in games and kind of not being our own enemy in a way,” Purcell said. “So not giving balls away that lead to their chances.”
Still No Road Point for Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale has now lost all six of its road matches this fall, scoring three goals and conceding 15. Gordon’s 20th-minute shot was its only effort on target. They remain at the bottom of the table, with a goal differential of – 12.
Craig kept it level for most of an hour, and the visitors’ press troubled Dallas through a scrappy first half. After the red card, Jennison sent on Van Treeck, Amber Nguyen, Walters and Molly McDougal, but Fort Lauderdale did not get another shot on target.
United hosts Tampa Bay Sun on Friday in the last Florida derby of the season, still looking for its first win over its in-state rival.
Dallas swept the season series with Fort Lauderdale and leads it five wins to three, with one draw.
A New Youngest
Kaiya Brewer was 15 years and 330 days old on Sunday, two days younger than Rhea Moore was at her debut in September 2025. That makes her the youngest Golden Girl to ever make the pitch to date.
She and Eichenberger reversed roles from the State Fair Clásico in October. In that friendly against Chivas Femenil, Brewer scored the opener and Eichenberger set up Moore. This time, the two would combine for Trinity’s third and final goal of the night.
International Golden Girls
Kaiya’s older sister’s tournament ended a few hours before kickoff. Meila Brewer captained the U.S. under-17s for the second straight match and played the full 90 at center back in a 3-0 quarterfinal loss to two-time defending champion Korea DPR. Her 14 clearances were the second-most by a U.S. player in a match across the last five editions of the U-17 Women’s World Cup.
Around the League
DC Power won 2-1 at Tampa Bay. Loza Abera scored before halftime, and substitute Alyssa Walker restored the lead four minutes after Tori Waldeck‘s 83rd-minute equalizer. DC moved second on 17 points.
Carolina beat Lexington SC 1-0 on Saturday on Emily Moxley‘s first professional goal, scored in her first start of the season. Carolina had one shot on target all night. It leads on 26 points and would have clinched a playoff place with a Dallas draw or loss.
Sporting JAX and Brooklyn FC drew 4-4 on Saturday.
Level with Fourth
Dallas is 4-2-4 with 14 points, level with Lexington for the last playoff place. Lexington holds fourth on goal difference, +4 to Dallas’s even.
“We’re still chasing,” Nguyen said. “So we need goals, we need shutouts, and we need wins.”
Dallas stays at the Cotton Bowl next Sunday to host Sporting JAX at 4 p.m. on Salute to Service Night.
