Ashlyn Puerta cancelled out Jasmine Hamid’s first-half goal, and Sydney Cheesman’s block a minute later kept the draw that moved The Golden Girls into fourth.
Dallas Trinity led Sporting JAX for 34 minutes at the Cotton Bowl on Sunday, then spent much of the second half defending deep. Jasmine Hamid scored in the 24th minute, Ashlyn Puerta equalized in the 58th, and the 1-1 draw moved Dallas into fourth place with three matches to play.
It was a beautiful fall Sunday afternoon at Fair Park. 70 degrees and clear skies for the four p.m. kickoff.
A crowd of 1,731 came out for Salute to Service Night.
Dallas wore its Sunrise Maroon home kit. Jacksonville played in white shirts with light blue and yellow trim and light blue lettering, yellow shorts, and white socks.
Lee Nguyen made two changes from the 3-0 win over Fort Lauderdale United. LJ Moore, who scored off the bench a week earlier, started up top with Seven Castain playing just underneath her. Sofia Cedeño dropped in beside Felicia Knox in front of the back four, and Jamie Shepherd went to the bench. Camryn Lancaster and Hamid started out wide.
“They’re a team that wants to go man-up in the back sometimes when they’re trying to high press,” Nguyen said. Moore gave Dallas a target to play up to, he said, and the start was a reward for her recent form.
Jacksonville head coach Stacey Balaam made one change from the 4-4 draw with Brooklyn FC. Ginger Fontenot came into the back three for Maggie Illig, alongside Georgia Brown and Grace Phillpotts. Baylee DeSmit and Paige Kenton started up front, with Puerta in attacking midfield behind them.
Around the Keeper
Dallas pressed from the opening whistle, but the first real chance of the match belonged to Jacksonville. In the ninth minute, Sophia Braun stepped in on the ball to stop Kenton from finding a teammate.
A minute later, Moore ran onto a ball in behind and couldn’t quite get there, with Brown covering. Hamid was a step away from a Knox pass in the 15th minute, and in the 18th she went down and needed treatment.
Six minutes later, she scored. Lancaster won the ball in Jacksonville’s half, and Moore moved it to Cedeño, who slipped Hamid through. Hamid took it around Jamie Gerstenberg to the keeper’s right and finished into an empty net.
“You just stay focused and play the way we’ve been playing,” Hamid told the broadcast at halftime. “I feel like we had a really good first half.”
It was her fifth goal of the fall, one more than Castain for the team lead. Cedeño’s pass was her first assist of the season.
Trinity kept attacking in numbers after the goal, but without hurrying. Cheesman said the patience in possession has been a recent focus.
“When you get the front line to chase and get tired, it gets a lot easier to build out of the back,” she said.
Jacksonville captain Sophie Jones was booked in the 34th minute, and Cheesman in the 38th. In the 40th, Neeku Purcell stopped a shot with her knee and then tipped the resulting corner over the bar.
Dallas went in 1-0 up with 57 percent of the first-half possession.
“I thought we did really good in the first half controlling moments,” Nguyen said.
A Gift, Then a Block
Carissa Boeckmann was booked in the 50th minute, leaving two of the back four on yellow cards. A minute later Dallas put together its best move of the half and came within a touch of a second goal.
In the 58th minute, Kenton took the ball off Dallas high up the field, off of a poor pass out of the back by Purcell. Jacksonville had numbers forward, and Kenton found Puerta, who finished high into the net with her right foot.
“I think that was a little bit of a gift,” Nguyen said.
It was Puerta’s ninth goal of the fall, and it put her alone atop the league’s scoring list.
A minute later, Purcell gave the ball away again. This time Cheesman slid in and blocked a shot that looked certain to go in.
“I just think that all of our teammates have each other’s backs,” Cheesman said of the play. “I’m happy to do it with my teammates. I know, when I need it, they’ll be there for me.”
Jacksonville Takes Over
From there, the momentum belonged to the visitors.
“Second half got a little chippy,” Nguyen said. “The game opened up too, so the game was going back and forth a little bit.”
Kalea Eichenberger replaced Moore in the 65th minute, and Giulianna Gianino came on for Cyera Hintzen in the 71st. Jacksonville’s pressure kept breaking up Dallas’s possession. In the 79th, Meg Hughes made a long run down the flank and crossed into an empty box.
Nguyen made a double change in the same minute. Onyeka Gamero replaced Hamid, and Aria Nagai came on for Knox.
Purcell made a big save in the 81st minute. After the play, Brown fouled Eichenberger, the two got physical, and referee Jorge Escobar stepped in with warnings.
By the 84th minute. Dallas was defending deep, with Puerta driving Jacksonville’s attack. Nguyen said the yellows didn’t take the edge off his defenders.
“You play with yellows. It’s just one of those things; you gotta be smart in how you challenge, but I love how they stayed aggressive,” he said. “Things started getting stretched, but they held their own, which I was proud of.”
“She’s a special player, but we did a good job of shutting her down when we could, and being there for each other,” Braun said of Puerta. “If we’re not winning the first one, there’s somebody always there to clean up the second.”
Dallas found a few last chances in five minutes of stoppage time. In the 94th minute, Lancaster put a shot just over the bar.
Jacksonville finished with 10 shots to Dallas’s six, with five on target for each side, and won seven corners to one. Dallas had 54 percent of the ball. Purcell made three saves and Gerstenberg four.
Still Scoring for Jacksonville
Jacksonville has now gone five matches without a loss and has scored in every one of them, while also conceding in every match since beating Dallas 2-0 on Aug. 29.
Puerta, DeSmit and Kenton came into Sunday with 19 goals between them this fall. Only Carolina had more as a club.
This was the first draw between the clubs in league play. Jacksonville leads the series three wins to one, and now one draw.
Jacksonville hosts DC Power on Nov. 15 in a postponed match, then finishes at Carolina and Tampa Bay.
Around the League
DC Power beat Lexington SC 2-1 at Audi Field on Friday. Loza Abera scored her fifth of the fall in the 18th minute, Emily Colton doubled the lead in stoppage time, and Lexington pulled one back a minute later. It was Lexington’s third straight loss.
Fort Lauderdale and Tampa Bay Sun drew 0-0 on Friday. Fort Lauderdale keeper Haley Craig made her 100th career save and kept her third clean sheet of the fall. Sunday’s draw at the Cotton Bowl officially eliminated Fort Lauderdale from playoff contention.
Carolina Ascent came from behind twice to draw 2-2 at Brooklyn on Saturday, equalizing in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Brooklyn scored both of its goals from the penalty spot. Carolina still hasn’t clinched first place.
Into Fourth
The point leaves Dallas 4-3-4 with 15 points and a goal difference of 0. Lexington, the reigning league champion, drops to fifth, one point back. Jacksonville is third on 17 and DC Power is second on 20, both with 11 played.
“It’s still a super close race, so we’re not comfortable with one point by any means,” Braun said. “We’re in the picture, but we know it literally changes week to week.”
Dallas visits Tampa Bay at Suncoast Credit Union Field on Saturday, then hosts Lexington at the Cotton Bowl on Nov. 21 for the final home match of the season. They will be in Charlotte at the league leaders’ for Decision Day.