Jacksonville has won both of its league visits to Fair Park, including last year’s Salute to Service night. A Dallas win on Sunday would move the Golden Girls past Jacksonville and three points clear of Lexington.
USL Super League | Sunday, Nov. 8 | 4 p.m. CT | Cotton Bowl, Dallas, TX | Broadcast: Peacock
Dallas Trinity hosts Sporting JAX on Sunday for its Salute to Service Night, a year to the day after Jacksonville won the same fixture 2-0 at the Cotton Bowl.
Dallas is fifth on 14 points with four matches left. Jacksonville is third on 16.
Dallas has scored once in four league meetings with Jacksonville, and that goal came on the road. Both of Jacksonville’s trips to Fair Park ended in shutouts.
The Recovery Report
Dallas Trinity
Heather Stainbrook is OUT (lower leg)
Ally Cook, Rajanah Reed & Chioma Ubogagu are out for the season
Sporting JAX
No report available
The Bigger Picture
DC Power FC beat Lexington SC 2-1 at Audi Field on Friday night. Loza Abera scored in the 18th minute, her fifth goal of the fall, and Emily Colton doubled the lead in stoppage time before Catherine Barry pulled one back a minute later.
It was Lexington’s third straight loss. The defending champions sit fourth on 14 points, level with Dallas, after playing one more match. Lexington leads on goal difference, +3 to 0, and goal difference is the league’s first tiebreaker.
DC moved to 20 points, second behind Carolina Ascent. DC and Jacksonville still hold the match postponed by Hurricane Isaias, now set for Nov. 15 at Hodges Stadium.
Carolina, six points clear of DC, visits Brooklyn FC on Saturday afternoon.
Fort Lauderdale United and Tampa Bay Sun FC drew 0-0 at Amerant Bank Field on Friday. Haley Craig made her 100th career save and kept her third clean sheet of the fall. Tampa Bay, which Dallas visits next Saturday, moved to 10 points.
Body Shape in the Box
Tuesday’s session at Dallas Soccer Park ran through passing drills, and assistant coach Chad Otec‘s instruction centered on the area where Dallas’s fall has been decided. The message was body shape in and around the 18-yard box, and getting the details right.
Against Jacksonville, those details have gone missing. At Hodges Stadium on Aug. 29, Dallas had 58 percent of the ball and attempted 604 passes without putting a shot on target, a first in club history. It won a penalty in stoppage time, and Jasmine Hamid put it wide.
Last Sunday the finishing came, though only after Fort Lauderdale went down to 10. Dallas outshot United 26-2 and scored all three of its goals after Taylor Smith‘s sending-off in the 58th minute.
Lee Nguyen‘s side has three wins, a draw and a loss at the Cotton Bowl in league play this fall.
Jacksonville has had the better of this fixture from the opening minutes. On last year’s Salute to Service night, Paige Kenton scored in the sixth minute off a misplayed pass out of the back, and Ashlyn Puerta added a second in the 23rd before a crowd of 1,983. Jacksonville returned in March and won 4-0.
Dallas’s only goal in the series came on Sept. 6, 2025, when Rhea Moore scored in the 82nd minute at Hodges on her professional debut.
Stainbrook was held out of Tuesday’s session and worked on her own. Lauren Flynn, off the injury report after missing last week with a lower-leg injury, took part on a limited basis. Backup goalkeeper Maddy Anderson had an ice wrap on her knee.
Meila Brewer‘s U-17 World Cup ended on Nov. 1, when she captained the U.S. at center back in a 3-0 quarterfinal loss to Korea DPR. She’s due back with the club this weekend.
Players to Watch: Dallas Trinity
Neeku Purcell – Has two clean sheets and 20 saves this fall. She stopped Baylee DeSmit twice in the first half at Hodges before DeSmit beat her just before halftime. How well she commands her box will decide how many players Dallas can commit forward.
Kalea Eichenberger – Scored the first goal of her career against Fort Lauderdale, 21 minutes after coming off the bench. She moved through Tuesday’s session with real confidence. If she leads the line, the 6-foot forward gives Dallas a target inside a penalty area Jacksonville has struggled to keep clean.
Jasmine Hamid – Shares the team lead with four goals and has 17 in her league career. One of her two missed penalties this fall came in stoppage time at Hodges. Jacksonville’s matches have been open all fall, and she has to finish the chances that come with that.
Unbeaten Since September 20
Stacey Balaam‘s side hasn’t lost since a 1-0 home defeat to Lexington on Sept. 20. In October, they beat Fort Lauderdale 4-1 and drew at Lexington and at home to Brooklyn, both after falling behind.
Jacksonville has scored 23 goals, the most in the league. It has also conceded in every match since beating Dallas on Aug. 29, seven of those goals in its last two.
Against Brooklyn on Halloween, Jacksonville trailed 2-0 inside 25 minutes and 4-2 after Jackie Richards scored twice in two minutes. Puerta’s 67th-minute penalty and her equalizer 13 minutes later saved the point. Afterward she said she and Kenton were “both battling illnesses in the first part of the season.”
Balaam lined up with three center backs that day in front of Jamie Gerstenberg, with Puerta in a five-player midfield behind DeSmit and Kenton. Gerstenberg and Kaitlyn Parks have split the starts in goal this fall.
Puerta, DeSmit and Kenton have 19 league goals between them, more than any other club has scored. Away from Hodges, Jacksonville has a win, three draws and a loss, with 10 goals scored and 10 conceded.
Players to Watch: Sporting JAX
Ashlyn Puerta – October’s Player of the Month after seven goals in three matches, including four against Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 16, the first four-goal game in league history. Her runs from midfield into the box are where Dallas’s holding midfielders will be tested most.
Baylee DeSmit – Shares the league lead with Puerta on eight goals, and both have 20 in their league careers. She scored the opener against Dallas in August after a quick one-two at the top of the box. Given a yard to turn there, she will shoot.
Paige Kenton – Scored twice and set up another in October, earning a place on the Team of the Month bench. She won the penalty against Brooklyn and helped create Puerta’s equalizer. If Dallas lets her run at its center backs, she will find Puerta or DeSmit.
What’s at Stake
A Dallas win would lift The Golden Girls to 17 points, past Jacksonville and three clear of Lexington with a match in hand. Trinity then travels to Tampa Bay next Saturday before Lexington visits the Cotton Bowl on Nov. 21.
Jacksonville leads the regular-season series three wins to one.
A Jacksonville win would take it to 19 points. It hosts DC in the makeup match on Nov. 15, then closes the regular season at Carolina and Tampa Bay.
Jorge Escobar Has the Whistle
Jorge Escobar will referee Sunday’s match. Eric Krueger and Tiffini Turpin are the assistant referees, and Reyes Vargas is the fourth official.
Dallas will wear its Sunrise Maroon “Illuminate” home kit.
Projected XIs
Dallas Trinity (4-2-3-1): Neeku Purcell; Cyera Hintzen, Sophia Braun (c), Sydney Cheesman, Carissa Boeckmann; Sofia Cedeño, Felicia Knox; Jasmine Hamid, Camryn Lancaster, Seven Castain; Kalea Eichenberger
Sporting JAX (3-5-2): Jamie Gerstenberg; Maggie Illig, Georgia Brown, Grace Phillpotts; Meg Hughes, AJ Hennessey, Ashlyn Puerta, Sophie Jones (c), Sophia Boman; Baylee DeSmit, Paige Kenton
Sunday’s forecast at Fair Park calls for clouds and a high in the upper 60s, with little chance of rain.