USL Super League | Saturday, August 15, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. CT | Cotton Bowl, Dallas, TX | Broadcast: Peacock
Dallas Trinity FC opens the Fall 2026 sprint season of the USL Super League on Saturday night at the Cotton Bowl.
Trinity finished last season fourth and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs; Tampa Bay Sun FC finished eighth, and both clubs then spent the summer overhauling their rosters; Trinity with college signings and short-term loans, Sun with signings from around the league.
The two teams that meet Saturday look little like the ones that closed last spring.
Trinity has new owners in USL Dallas, and a new head coach in Lee Nguyen, and comes in as a common pick to make the top four again.
Tampa won the inaugural title in 2024-25, then dropped to next-to-last, and kept coach Denise Schilte-Brown through the fall to steady it. In a 14-game season, neither side can afford to open flat.
Recovery Report
Dallas Trinity FC
Wayny Balata (leg) is questionable.
Lauren Flynn (leg) is out.
Heather Stainbrook (leg) is out.
Rajanah Reed (knee, season-ending) is out.
Chioma Ubogagu (knee, season-ending) is out.
Tampa Bay Sun FC
Sam Kroeger (M, head) is out.
Sabrina McNeill (D, quad) is out.
Alexis Theoret (M, knee) is out.
Dasia Torbert (M, knee) is out.
Emory Wegener (GK, knee) is out.
Eleanor Dale (F) is unavailable.
The Bigger Picture
The latest crop of Golden Girls got the job done throughout the preseason. The team that conceded the second-most open-play goals in the league last season won all three friendlies and gave up one goal: 1-0 over SMU, 2-1 at TCU, and 2-0 against KC Current II.
Nguyen lined the side up in a 4-2-3-1 (albeit with some serious flexibility), with Argentina international Sophia Braun at center back and Jasmine Hamid playing as a wide false nine. Hamid scored both goals at TCU. This weekend will be the first real test for Nguyen’s squad.
Tampa keeps its core through the changes. Schilte-Brown is the only head coach the club has had, and the roster still runs through Sydny Nasello, who led the Sun in goals and assists last season and was MVP of the 2025 final. The club conceded 46 goals on the way from champion to eighth, and fixing that was a priority this summer, starting with a new goalkeeper.
Dallas Trinity
The turnover ran deep. Trinity lost its captain and an All-League defender in Amber Wisner, who retired; academy players Sealey Strawn & Caroline Swann left for college at UNC & UT, respectively; while Lexi Missimo left for the French top-flight on loan.
In came a wave of players from the folded Spokane Zephyr and a set of NWSL loanees.
Hamid, Fort Lauderdale’s leading scorer last season who arrived in Dallas in the spring, spent much of the preseason operating up top in the number 9 role, and Braun takes over Wisner’s armband. That is a lot of new faces to knit together, and Nguyen spent preseason working out who fits where, a job that is not finished.
Picked to make the playoffs again, Dallas needs the pieces to settle quickly, with only 14 games to get it right.
Players to Watch
Camryn Lancaster – The Mansfield native is one of only two remaining players from the inaugural season (Cyera Hintzen is the other) just two years ago. She had four goals and three assists last season, including a 90th-minute equalizer off the bench at Brooklyn. Lancaster raised her game toward the end of last season, and she looks to be ready to continue her upward trajectory. The ceiling is high for this former Horned Frog.
Sophia Braun – The Argentine international is a mainstay in defensive midfield for La Albiceleste, but Nguyen has played her at center back all preseason, and that is likely where she starts Saturday. She’s looked confident calling the shots and organizing out of the back. She also takes the captain’s armband, marking the first time someone other than the now-retired Wisner will wear it in a league match. On a roster this new, she is the steadiest piece in it.
Seven Castain – Castain scored 40 goals in 93 appearances at TCU, and last season led the USL W with 17 goals in 9 matches, including one in the 4–0 victory in the national final. She arrives on loan from the NWSL’s Orlando Pride, and she projects to feature often in Nguyen’s front three. Her habit of running straight at defenders gives Dallas a threat distinct from Hamid, who drifts off the front. The reigning USL W Player of the Year is ready to prove she can compete at the next level.
Tampa Bay Sun
The inaugural Super League champions dropped off significantly in year two, and Tampa arrives at the Cotton Bowl in transition and shorthanded. Schilte-Brown is down three central midfielders to injury, a shortage in the one area she can least afford it.
The summer’s work was aimed at the defense that leaked 46 goals, and it shows most in the spine, the decorated newcomer Roque in goal and the experienced Scarpelli added at the back. Nasello, the constant in the attack, is the danger Dallas will track. For a club trying to show last season was the exception, a result on the road would be their strongest early argument.
Players to Watch
Cristina Roque – The new goalkeeper is the biggest piece of Tampa’s defensive fix. Roque won two national titles at Florida State, was the 2022 ACC Goalkeeper of the Year, and she has since kept goal in the NWSL and internationally for Puerto Rico. Behind a back line the club is still assembling, she may be its most important player on the night.
Sydny Nasello – The South Florida product is Tampa’s surest source of a goal. She led the Sun with six goals and three assists last season and set up the winner in the 100th minute of the 2025 final, the night she was named MVP. Trinity’s fullbacks push high, so the space in behind is where she is most dangerous.
Leah Scarpelli – Tampa’s back line was short on experience, and Scarpelli brings it. She was the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year at Florida Gulf Coast and has since played in Portugal, Australia, and, last season, as Brooklyn FC‘s captain. The scrappy defender from Brick, New Jersey – who goes by “Scarps” – is set to anchor a back line that needed an upgrade.
What’s at Stake
Coach Lee Nguyen told supporters that he’s fighting for three points every single matchday, and a win would give him his first in his first lead role. For Tampa, a result at the Cotton Bowl would be a sign the drop has stopped. It’s a short season — just 14 matches — and clubs will need to figure it out early or risk getting left behind. Every point will matter in this bridge season, so expect both clubs to come out of the gates firing.
Projected XIs
Dallas Trinity (4-2-3-1): Neeku Purcell; Cyera Hintzen, Sophia Braun, Sydney Cheesman, Drew Coomans; Carissa Boeckmann, Felicia Knox; Camryn Lancaster, Sofia Cedeño, Seven Castain; Jasmine Hamid.
Tampa Bay Sun (4-2-3-1): Cristina Roque; Leah Scarpelli, Brooke Hendrix, Vivianne Bessette, Taylor Chism; Jordyn Listro, Darya Rajaee; Tori Zierenberg, Sydny Nasello, Kennedy White; Shea Connors.
