Three different scorers, a reshuffled front four, and a first win for Lee Nguyen as a head coach.
Dallas Trinity FC had gone three matches without a win to open the Fall 2026 season. That ended in the eighth minute on Saturday, and by the final whistle the club had a coach with his first career win, a forward with her first professional goal, and a goalkeeper with a shutout against her former team.
The final score was 3-0 over Brooklyn FC at the Cotton Bowl, on a Pride Night that gave Trinity plenty to celebrate beyond the theme. Three different players scored. Two more picked up their first assists of the season. It was the kind of night the club and the fans had been chasing since the opener.
A Different Look Up Front
Lee Nguyen kept his back six from the Jacksonville loss, but the front four looked different. Seven Castain moved into the central striker’s role, Jasmine Hamid shifted out to the right, Camryn Lancaster dropped underneath, and Onyeka Gamero held the left. It was a small rearrangement on paper, but it changed the math on the field.
The chances started arriving early. In the third minute, Gamero turned a low ball into the box and rattled the crossbar. Five minutes later, the same combination worked.
Lancaster to Gamero
Hamid drove a low ball in from the right, threading it to Lancaster in space. Lancaster took a single touch and slid it back out to Gamero on the outside, and Gamero finished for her first goal of the season. It was also the first professional goal of her career, in her fourth match for the club.
“In practice I’ve been working really hard to join our other side when they’re attacking,” Gamero said. “Rather than just creating chances, I want to finish on the end of other people’s chances. I tried really hard to get into the box, and I was there at the right time, and I got a goal from it, so I’m really proud.”
Shepherd’s Ball, Castain’s Run
Trinity doubled the lead in the 28th minute, and this one came from the back of the midfield. Jamie Shepherd carried the ball off of a throw-in up the right side and slid a pass across half the field for Castain to run onto behind the Brooklyn defense. Castain took it in stride and finished for her second goal of the fall, and Shepherd picked up the first assist of her season in the buildup.
Brooklyn’s best look of the half came in between, a right-footed effort from Carlee Giammona in the sixth minute that Neeku Purcell turned away, the only save Purcell would need to make all night. Dallas went into the break up 2-0, having out-shot Brooklyn 8-2 in the first 45 minutes.
A Long Second Half, Then Cheesman Over the Top
The second half slowed. Brooklyn had chances of its own, a Jilly Shimkin effort in the 35th minute and a Catherine Zimmerman shot blocked just before the break, and Dallas spent long stretches after halftime unable to add to the lead. Cyera Hintzen hit the post in the 69th minute off a set piece, Trinity’s second shot off the woodwork of the night. Brooklyn had its own let-off in the 78th, a Lauren Gogal header that sailed over.
The third goal, when it finally came, was the simplest of the three. In the 88th minute, defender Sydney Cheesman lifted a ball over the top into the space behind Brooklyn’s back line. Hamid ran onto it alone, no defender within reach, and finished one-on-one with the goalkeeper for her second goal of the fall and the 15th of her league career. It was also the first assist of the season for Cheesman.
Nguyen’s First, and Not Alone
The final whistle closed out Dallas’s first shutout of the fall, and Nguyen’s first win since taking over the club, as well as his first as a Head Coach.
“I think it was a great win,” Nguyen said. “We tried to create chances through possession, but we’re always going to take what they give us. We did well to collect the chances, and we put them away. I’m really happy with the team and how they closed out the game and kept the clean sheet. It was great to get our first win, especially at home in front of our fans.”
For Purcell, the clean sheet carried an extra layer. Brooklyn is the club she played for before joining Trinity on loan from Seattle Reign.
“You always want to beat the team you used to play for, so this one definitely felt good,” Purcell said. “The past couple of games, we’ve really wanted to lock in on the little things and discipline on that, and I think today we were able to execute that. Winning every challenge, really taking it personal. And I think my backline in front of me, everyone, starting with the forwards, because that’s the goal and that’s where we got the shutout.”
The final numbers matched the eye test. Dallas out-shot Brooklyn 15-5, five shots on target to one, and won the possession battle 51.5 to 48.5 percent. Fifteen players saw the field for Trinity.
Brooklyn Gets Worse
For Brooklyn, the loss extends a start no club in league history has had to open a season. At 0-0-4, the club is still searching for its first point of the fall, and it has now been outscored 11-1 across the four matches. Coach Alex Smith (DTID) made four changes across the night looking for a spark, and Shimkin and Zimmerman both had half-chances that didn’t connect. The defending was the larger issue, undone twice by service into the same space behind the back line.
Around the League
Sporting JAX stayed unbeaten but had to work for a point, drawing 1-1 at DC Power FC on Friday. Maggie Illig scored the first professional goal of her career for Jacksonville, who remain on top at 10 points. On Saturday, Carolina Ascent returned to winning form, beating Fort Lauderdale United 3-0 behind goals from Jillienne Aguilera, Mia Corbin, and Audrey Harding, despite being out-shot for the night. Sydney Martínez made six saves to keep the clean sheet.
What comes next
Dallas is back at the Cotton Bowl in a week, hosting DC Power FC on Sunday, September 13, for College Night. It is the club’s second straight home game before a four-match road trip begins.
