Dallas Trinity FC 1, Tampa Bay Sun FC 2
Dallas Trinity FC dominated the run of play, outshot their opponent 15 to 10, earned ten corners to three, and lost. Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat to Tampa Bay Sun FC at the Cotton Bowl was the latest chapter in what has become the defining problem of Dallas’s spring.
This is a team that creates enough to win and can’t find the net when it counts. Dallas (8-8-5, 29 points) remains in fourth place in the USL Super League standings, but the margin is shrinking. Spokane Zephyr FC will visit Fair Park this weekend, just three points back, though Dallas has a game in hand.
The Cotton Bowl was quieter than it should have been for a match of this consequence. 2,321 fans came out on a sunny and warm Tuesday evening, and it had a familiar feel from the opening whistle. Coach Nathan Thackeray made several adjustments from the Sporting JAX lineup, with injuries forcing his hand in the back. Lauren Flynn and Sydney Cheesman were both unavailable, bringing Hannah Davison back into the starting center back role alongside Amber Wisner. Chioma Ubogagu returned to the starting XI, and the shape shifted slightly, with Caroline Swann dropping out of the lineup entirely.
Dallas pressed high, moved the ball well, and generated early pressure that came to nothing. Cam Lancaster ran at the Tampa defense in the 7th minute and crossed to a waiting Emory Wegener. Ubogagu faked out Victoria Haugen on the left in the 19th and delivered a cross that Tampa turned away. Three consecutive corners followed, Wisner’s shot from the last of them going wide. A fourth corner came and went in the 24th without a shot taken. Heather Stainbrook hit a weak shot straight at Wegener in the 28th.
Dallas had the ball. Dallas had the corners. Dallas did not have a goal.
Tampa Bay had barely threatened when they scored. In the 29th minute, Sabrina McNeill ran up the middle, found Maddie Pokorny wide left, and Pokorny drove a low cross across goal. Faith Webber touched it back softly, and McNeill finished easily from close range, Tampa’s second shot on goal converted into a lead Dallas had done nothing to deserve giving up. “We were working on it all week,” McNeill told the broadcast at halftime. “As soon as I felt them bite and my team lured the defender away, I just exposed the space and was waiting for the ball in the box.”
Dallas went into the break with 56 percent possession, five corners to Tampa’s two, and one shot on target. Stainbrook’s weak effort from outside the box was the sum total of what they had put on frame in 45 minutes of well-played football.
The second half brought more of the same: sustained possession, sustained pressure, and a remarkable inability to finish. Stainbrook missed to the right from the center of the box in the 59th. Lexi Missimo missed to the right from the center of the box in the 61st. A Samar Guidry shot from outside the box missed to the right in the 65th. Sealey Strawn, on for Bethany Bos in the 68th, missed to the right from outside the box in the 70th. The pattern was so consistent it would have been darkly comic if the playoff standings didn’t make it serious. Dallas generated 15 shots on the night and put three on target. They missed two big chances and converted zero.
The equalizer came not from a clinical finish but from the one thing Dallas got right in the final third all night. In the 75th minute, Ubogagu drove into the penalty area, shook off several defenders on her way in, and drew a foul from Vivianne Bessette. Wisner stepped up and powered the penalty to the top left corner. 1-1.
It was only the second penalty kick Dallas had been awarded in 21 matches, and as Wisner noted afterward, the pattern isn’t new. “It took 21 games to get a penalty. I think it happened last year, too. We’ve had two penalty kicks in 50 games. Pretty ridiculous.”
For nine minutes, it looked like a point Dallas had earned through sheer persistence. Then Wayny Balata received a pass out of the back from Tyler McCamey and gave it away. Carlee Giammona, on as a substitute since the 58th minute, got a touch and rolled it past McCamey. 2-1 Tampa. The Cotton Bowl went quiet.
Nine minutes of added time produced a corner, a free kick, and nothing else. The final whistle confirmed what the stats had been warning about all night. Dallas had created enough and could not put it away.
“Our biggest problem is putting the ball in the back of the net,” Thackeray said. “We’re getting into good positions to score. Now we have to figure out how to execute it properly.”
He was pointed about the second goal but didn’t pin it on a system failure. “That shouldn’t have been played into midfield anyway. Balata has a bad pass. That’s just an error in the moment.” The broader picture he acknowledged plainly. “The teams that are in the playoffs are the ones that deserve to be there. We have to do our job now to start picking up points.”
Ubogagu said what everyone in the building was feeling. “It hurts because I feel like we put in more effort than that result shows. But that’s real life, right? We’ve got a game this weekend, so we have another opportunity to make it right.”
Wisner, who has been the one consistent presence across an ever-changing back line this season, had perhaps the most candid read on where things stand. “We need to finish. We haven’t had a full run of play since maybe the Fort Lauderdale win.”
She also had a message for supporters directly. “Keep hanging in there with us. Three home games left, they’re important. You go through these ups and downs, that’s the reality of pro sports. But if you actually watch how we’re playing, I think it’s pretty exciting soccer. We just need to put teams away.”
For Wisner, the stakes are personal as well as sporting. Tuesday was the 21st match of what will be the final season of her notable career. Just three home games remain.
Dallas returns to the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, April 4 to host Spokane Zephyr FC (6-8-8, 26 points) at 4:30 p.m. CT. It’s “Celebrating Our Abilities” night. The match airs on KFAA/WFAA+, Peacock, and TUDN Radio.
DALLAS TRINITY FC McCamey; Hintzen, Davison, Wisner (C), Guidry; Balata, Stainbrook; Ubogagu, Missimo, Lancaster; Bos
Substitutions: McCutcheon for Davison (58′), Strawn for Bos (68′), Thornton for Hintzen (89′), Kelly for Lancaster (89′)
TAMPA BAY SUN FC Wegener; McNeill, Chism, Bessette, Haugen; Gaillard, Provenzano, Listro (C); Nasello, Webber; Pokorny
Substitutions: Parsons for Gaillard (46′), Giammona for Pokorny (58′), Shimkin for Provenzano (60′), Zade for Webber (68′), Hendrix for Haugen (83′)
SCORING SUMMARY 29′ — TB: Sabrina McNeill (Faith Webber) 76′ — DAL: Amber Wisner (pen.) 85′ — TB: Carlee Giammona