Brooklyn FC 1, Dallas Trinity FC 1
Camryn Lancaster might have saved Dallas Trinity FC‘s season on Saturday night. The Mansfield, Texas native came off the bench in the 77th minute, and thirteen minutes later buried a left-footed finish past Kelsey Daugherty to pull Dallas level at 1-1 in the 90th minute at a cold, rain-soaked Maimonides Park.
Without the goal, Dallas would have dropped level on points with DC Power in fifth. With it, they hold fourth place in the USL Super League by one point with three matches remaining.
It was not a point Dallas earned on the balance of play. Brooklyn out-shot them 16 to 8, created three big chances to none, put 68 balls into the final third to Dallas’s 33, and had Tyler McCamey reaching for saves five times across the evening. Dallas committed 12 fouls. Brooklyn committed three. The home side won 62 percent of ground duels. Dallas spent the match defending, clearing 37 balls, and hanging on. Ryan Childers gave Brooklyn a deserved lead in the 79th, and for eleven minutes it looked like a second straight loss at this venue was coming.
Nathan Thackeray arrived without Heather Stainbrook and Wayny Balata, both out with lower leg injuries, and built the most unusual lineup of his tenure to compensate. Amber Wisner moved out of center back and into the double pivot alongside Caroline Swann. Maya McCutcheon partnered Lauren Flynn at center back. Sealey Strawn, back from U-19 camp in Argentina, went straight into the XI up top. Jasmine Hamid and Chioma Ubogagu took the wings.
Brooklyn was without Lauren Gogal (knee), NaYeong Shin (upper body), and Hope Breslin (suspension). Coach Tomas Tengarrinha set up in a 3-4-1-2 with Jessica Garziano behind Catherine Zimmerman and Rebecca Cooke, and Childers and Samantha Kroeger running the midfield.
Rain fell steadily on Coney Island all evening, temperatures near 50 degrees with an east wind off the Atlantic. The Peacock stream was rough, low baseball stadium camera angles fighting the weather to produce a broadcast that was hard to follow for long stretches. What you could see through the murk was a Brooklyn side that controlled the match almost from the start.
Brooklyn pressed from the opening whistle and Dallas spent most of the first half absorbing it. Cooke tested McCamey from outside the box in the 20th. Then Zimmerman took over. Between the 39th and 41st she had three attempts in two minutes, a header saved by McCamey, a shot from the center of the box saved, and a close-range effort from the six-yard box that missed to the right. Garziano tried again in the 44th, but McCamey held firm and finished the half with four saves.
Dallas had two moments. Samar Guidry forced a save from Daugherty in the 33rd from a Hamid cross, and Flynn headed the rebound on target only for Daugherty to save again. Swann had a shot blocked from distance in the 13th. Brooklyn created three big chances in the half. Dallas however, had none.
The second half was more of the same. Brooklyn attacked from everywhere and with effort. Cooke blocked in the 53rd. Antoinette Williams blocked in the 54th. A Kelsey Hill header blocked from a Garziano cross. Cooke wide in the 55th. Dallas clearing and clearing and clearing. Thackeray brought Bethany Bos on for Ubogagu in the 63rd. Guidry again missed from a difficult angle off a Strawn cross in the 66th. Childers went high and wide from distance in the 74th.
Then Childers didn’t miss. In the 79th, Garziano played her in and she struck a left-footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. 1-0 Brooklyn. It was the goal the match had been building toward for 79 minutes, and it felt like a finish to the story. Sofia Lewis nearly doubled the lead in the 84th, forcing McCamey into one more save.
Thackeray had already sent Lancaster on for Hamid in the 77th. At the 87th he exhausted his subs. Sydney Cheesman for McCutcheon. Caroline Kelly for Flynn. Allie Thornton for Swann. Three substitutes at once, bringing on fresh legs to try and make a final push.
Thornton needed just three minutes. She collected on the right, set herself, and played the ball into the box. Lancaster met it at full speed and slotted it past Daugherty. 1-1. Her third goal of the season.
“Allie had a great first touch and I just tried to get into the box as fast as I could,” Lancaster said. “She played a perfect ball to me and I just slotted it home. We played with a lot of grit and energy tonight and I’m proud of our team.”
Dallas nearly stole the win in stoppage time, but Lancaster missed high in the 93rd, and Bos was blocked in the 95th. Strawn headed a Cyera Hintzen cross wide from the right side of the six-yard box in the final seconds. The winner would not come.
“I’m so proud of the group,” Thackeray said. “We’ve been struggling in regards to results recently and they could’ve easily caved in when we were down 1-0. Instead, they decided to fight for it and push and we could’ve won the game at the end.”
Thornton spoke about what every player on this roster needs to understand over the final three matches: “At this point in the season, it definitely takes everyone. It takes the players on the field, the players on the bench, every single player to get those results at the end of the season. I think it’s important to accept your role and be the spark that the team needs.”
Dallas sits fourth at 33 points. DC Power sits fifth at 32. Three matches remain. The series with Brooklyn finishes 1-1-2 this season, 3-3-2 all-time. McCamey made five saves, giving her 36 on the season across 12 matches.
The match that will define Dallas’s season comes Friday. DC Power FC (8-9-8, 32 points) at Audi Field, 6:00 p.m. CT. One point between them and the last playoff spot. The match airs on KFAA and streams on WFAA+, Peacock, and TUDN Radio.
STARTING LINEUPS
DAL: McCamey; Hintzen, McCutcheon, Flynn, Guidry; Wisner (C), Swann; Ubogagu, Missimo, Hamid; Strawn
BKN: Daugherty; Thompson, Hill (C), Scarpelli; Loving, A.J. Williams, R. Childers, Kroeger; Garziano; Zimmerman, Cooke
SCORING SUMMARY 79′ — BKN: Ryan Childers (Jessica Garziano) 90′ — DAL: Camryn Lancaster (Allie Thornton)
DISCIPLINE 37′ — DAL: Cyera Hintzen (Yellow Card)