Dallas Trinity FC put the loss in Fort Lauderdale behind them, with a 2-0 score line over the other Floridians to get their chase for the top spot back on track.
“We knew that both teams liked to play a tactical game,” said Dallas Trinity FC Head Coach Pauline MacDonald. “It was going to be about concentration, decision-making, and staying in the game as long as we could. In the second half, we tweaked a few things and talked a little bit more about decision-making in the final third and being more aggressive in our press. We asked for ninety minutes of high concentration on both sides of the ball. All in all, I’m absolutely delighted for the players.”
With Chioma Ubogagu missing through injury, Coach MacDonald opted to tweak the shape slightly with a two-striker look.
Allie Thornton returned to the start alongside Cyera Hintzen up front. Julia Dorsey and Hannah Davison returned to the side with Sealy Strawn, Jordyn Hardeman, and the other academy players with their clubs at the ECNL Regional League in Kansas City.
Chances were hard to come by in the first half. A Rachel Pace shot from over 30 yards out in the 14th minute was the first shot for either side. Tampa Bay should have had a lead ten minutes later. Cecilie Nielsen played in an unmarked Sydny Nasello, but the Tampa Bay Sun winger miscontrolled the ball with Dallas scrambling to recover.
Both sides struggled to make meaningful touches in the penalty area, the best being the last action of the half. Tampa advanced from a defensive free kick, with Jade Moore chipping a ball for Carlee Giammona to race on to. The Trinity were relieved to see the Portland Thorns draftee hammer the shot over the crossbar to send them into the break still level.
Cyera Hintzen was almost gifted a goal shortly after the break as goalkeeper Ashley Orkus struggled to punch away a Rachel Pace cross from the Dallas left. The ball fell towards Hintzen unmarked in the box but bounced the wrong side of the former Longhorn allowing a defender to make a great recovery run and clear the danger.
Running with the ball, Hintzen caused Tampa Bay Sun FC fits, leading to the opening goal of the contest in the 66th minute. Hintzen won a free kick near the end line, dragged to the ground by Brooke Hendrix close to the area. Amber Brooks played in a free kick at an awkward height close to goal that took a deflection off a defender before Giammona got the unlucky redirect past Orkus.
DTFC doubled the lead just two minutes later. Sam Meza won the ball back and countered down the right before finding Hintzen in the middle and heading into the attacking third. The Garland native drew in the defense allowing Allie Thornton space on the left. After the layoff, Thornton struck low off the inside of the post for her sixth goal in Sunrise Maroon.
Tampa Bay came agonizingly close in the 79th minute as Hendrix saw her diving header cannon back off the post from a corner. The Tampa defender’s momentum took her head directly into the knee of Julia Dorsey at the back post following Ashley Clark’s set-piece delivery. That nasty collision unfortunately saw an end to Hendrix’s afternoon.
Enzi Broussard continued her comeback from injury, subbing in for Hintzen in stoppage time. Pauline MacDonald didn’t need to tweak much through the game, with Lucy Shepherd replacing Rachel Pace shortly after the team went two goals up.
Dallas Trinity has struggled at times with holding shape at the back, but were firmly in control of their own box en route to a fifth clean sheet of the season and preserved the unbeaten home record.
“We’re going to build off that and not focus so much on where we stand in the table,” said DTFC forward Cyera Hintzen. “We just know that we need to come out hard and win this next game.”
The result leaves Trinity three points and three goals behind first-placed Brooklyn FC. Next week Dallas finishes out the fall schedule with a top-two clash at the Cotton Bowl that could see DTFC go into the eight-week winter break on top of USL Super League.
