New owners, a new head coach in Lee Nguyen, and a roster turned over almost top to bottom. The Golden Girls begin the standalone Fall season on Saturday, August 15, against Tampa Bay Sun FC at the Cotton Bowl.
The crest hasn’t changed. Almost everything else behind it has.
Dallas Trinity FC enters the Super League’s standalone Fall 2026 season under new ownership, with Atlético Dallas having acquired the club and installed Lee Nguyen as First Team Manager.
I sat down with Nguyen earlier this week for a special bonus episode of 3rd Degree the Podcast to discuss his path back to The Metroplex and his tactical vision for the club.
The two organizations now share the Cotton Bowl, and the takeover set off the most thorough roster rebuild of any club in the league. Trinity returns only a handful of contributors from the group that reached the playoff semifinals in each of the league’s first two seasons. Almost everything else is new.
The format gives them no time to settle. The Fall season runs 14 matches, seven at home and seven on the road, from August 15 to November 28. The top four advance to a playoff, with semifinals on December 5 and the final on December 12. There is no long season to grow into. A slow month makes it almost impossible to recover.
Roster Losses
The summer stripped out much of the spine. Captain Amber Wisner, a 2025-26 All-League First Team defender, retired. Allie Thornton, the inaugural season’s Golden Boot winner with 13 goals, was not renewed after a quiet second year. Lexi Missimo, the club’s most expensive player and a former college star at Texas, left on a season-long loan to Olympique de Marseille in France.
Injuries thinned the group further. Chioma Ubogagu, the team’s assist leader last season, tore her ACL in May and will not feature. Rajanna Reed, announced as a signing this month, suffered the same injury in training and is out for the season before playing a minute.
Heather Stainbrook, on loan from Washington Spirit, has not been seen this preseason. Stainbrook posted post-surgery photos on her Instagram page, but no official update has been provided on her condition.
Roster Kept and Added
Nguyen has built the rest largely from NWSL loans and the wreckage of the folded Spokane Zephyr.
From Spokane came Sophia Braun, an Argentina international with more than 50 senior caps who anchors midfield and can slot into central defense, plus midfielder Felicia Knox and forward Ally Cook.
On loan from the NWSL are goalkeeper Neeku Purcell and forward Seven Castain, both from Seattle Reign and Orlando Pride respectively, along with attacking options Sofia Cedeño and Kalea Eichenberger. Carissa Boeckmann arrives from a title-winning season at Benfica, and Maddy Anderson provides goalkeeping cover after time in the French top flight.
The returning core is small but useful. Jasmine Hamid, acquired from Fort Lauderdale late last season, is the central striker. Camryn Lancaster, a Mansfield native, is the most productive attacker still on the books. Wayny Balata, back in full training this week after injury, has been working at center back with the second group, and Lauren Flynn is edging back into fitness.
Cyera Hintzen remains the top option at fullback, and Dallas native Juliet Moore, signed out of Houston and named by the league among its eight prospects to watch, will push for minutes as an attacking midfielder. Solar SC alum and US U20 Sofia Cedeño joins on loan from Seattle Reign, another bright young attacking talent who will be looking for space in the XI.
The rebuild has a clear priority. Dallas conceded the second-most open-play goals in the league last season and allowed 12.7 shots per 90 minutes, and tightening that is the whole project.
The early evidence is promising. Trinity closed the preseason unbeaten across three matches and conceded only once, beating SMU 1-0 before a 2-1 win at TCU. Nguyen used a fluid 4-1-2-3, with Hamid operating as a false nine, and she scored both goals against the Horned Frogs.
The shape is not settled, and the midfield rotation is wide open, but a back line that was quiet in August is a solid foundation to build from.
Five to Watch
Camryn Lancaster, forward
The most productive returning attacker, Lancaster posted four goals and three assists last season, much of it from the bench, including a 90th-minute equalizer at Brooklyn. With Ubogagu out and Missimo in France, the path to a starting role is finally open.
Lancaster is the likeliest source of supply for the front line. She arrived at preseason in excellent shape, and looks ready to continue to pick up where she left off last season.
Sophia Braun, Midfield
The most important arrival. An Argentina international with more than 50 caps, Braun spent a season and a half at Spokane before the club folded, and she inherits the leadership Wisner left behind, wearing No. 8. She is not here to score.
Braun is here to organize a young side and steady it when the December matches tighten. How quickly Trinity coheres may rest on her more than anyone. While she has traditionally played defensive midfield much of her career, Braun has anchored Nguyen’s back line throughout preseason, organizing from the back while wearing the captain’s armband.
Seven Castain, Forward
The high-ceiling loan. Castain was one of the most dangerous forwards in the college game at TCU, where she scored 40 goals in 93 appearances and tied the program’s single-season record with 17 as a senior, earning First-Team All-American honors. Orlando Pride signed her this summer and loaned her back to the metroplex where she played her college soccer.
Castain has not scored in the NWSL yet. If she translates even part of her finishing to this level, Dallas has a difference-maker on the right. Castain has appeared in all three preseason matches, and has quickly gelled with Hamid up near the top of the formation.
Felicia Knox, Midfield
Another piece of the Spokane group, and a well-traveled one. Knox left Alabama as the program’s all-time assists leader with 31 and a two-time First-Team All-SEC pick, then logged real minutes for Fort Lauderdale and Spokane across the league’s first two seasons.
Knox gives Nguyen a two-way midfielder who reads the game and keeps possession moving, exactly the reliability the midfield lost when Wisner retired and Stainbrook went down.
Carissa Boeckmann, Midfield
The wildcard. The San Antonio native took an unusual route here, through Texas A&M, Florida State, and a title-winning season at Benfica in Portugal. She brings senior European experience that few in this league can match. Nguyen has asked central players to interchange constantly, and Boeckmann’s technical grounding suits that.
In a midfield full of options, Boeckmann is the one whose ceiling at this level we have not seen. She’s filled in at left fullback and moved up into the midfield throughout the preseason, showing off her versatility in defense. She’s tough, scrappy, and not afraid to fight for the ball. A spiritual successor to the physical role previously held by Amber Wisner.
Around the League
Lexington SC
Same, and still the standard. The champions beat Carolina 3-1 last season to complete a Shield and playoff double, and they did little in the summer because they did not need to. Coach Kosuke Kimura stays, the league’s best defense returns, and Catherine Barry, whose 16 goals set a league single-season record and won the Golden Boot, is back. They remain the team to beat.
Sporting Club Jacksonville
Same, and a genuine contender. The league’s most dangerous attack a year ago kept the two people who mattered most: Player of the Year Ashlyn Puerta, whose 12 goals drove a second-place finish, and Coach of the Year Stacey Balaam. The offseason work added depth rather than stars, and replacing loan keeper Cristina Roque is the one real question. Expect them back in the title race.
Carolina Ascent
Same, and frightening in goal. Runners-up in the final, Carolina lost seven players but landed the summer’s best goalkeeper, signing two-time Goalkeeper of the Year Hope Hisey – and her league-record 86 saves – out of the Spokane collapse. They also added standout defender Reese Tappan, who played in front of Hisey at Spokane. Coach Philip Poole stays. A little thinner across the roster, a little more elite between the posts, and still a playoff side.
DC Power
Better, and my dark horse. The team that finished sixth had the most purposeful offseason outside the top three. Coach Omid Namazi stays, top scorer and Ethiopia captain Loza Abera and her seven goals are retained, and the club added NWSL pedigree across the spine in forward Tyler Lussi, keeper Katie Cappelletti, and former Spokane midfielders Emma Jaskaniec and Sarah McCoy. With Spokane out of the league, DC are the likeliest side to take the fourth playoff place, and the most direct threat to Trinity.
Brooklyn FC
Better, from a low base. Seventh place brought a full reset. Out went the head coach and women’s general manager; in came Australian-American Alex Smith (DTID) from a rebuild at Brisbane Roar. The attack, a weak spot last year, was rebuilt around NWSL veteran Tziarra King, champion Carlee Giammona, and Scotland title-winner Jackie Richards. Four founding players are gone, and forward Rebecca Cooke is out with an ACL, so a new staff will need time to click. Improvement looks likely. A leap does not.
Tampa Bay Sun
Same, still searching, and Trinity’s first opponent. The steepest fall in the league’s short history saw the inaugural champions finish eighth after conceding 46 goals. Coach Denise Schilte-Brown remains, and the additions we can confirm are college prospects rather than the proven defenders that record demands. Until reinforcements arrive, another season in the bottom half looks the safer call.
Fort Lauderdale United
Better, with nowhere to go but up. Last year finished at minus-32, Fort Lauderdale at least attacked the problem. Tyrone Mears is back on the bench, and the back line was rebuilt around veterans Haley Thomas and Maggy Henschler in front of club-record keeper Haley Craig (and her 58 saves).
The catch is at the other end. Their best forward, Jasmine Hamid, now plays for Trinity, and they also lost defensive stalwart Laveni Vaka. Tighter at the back, blunter up front, and climbing out of the cellar is a long job.
Predictions for Trinity
Finish: playoffs, fourth
It is a bolder call than the placement suggests. Trinity are integrating more than a dozen new players, lean heavily on loans that could be recalled, and open without Ubogagu, Reed, and Stainbrook. Even so, half of this eight-team league reaches the postseason, and the math is friendlier than a year ago now that Spokane, a middle-table side, is gone.
The league’s own preview and the independent tactical breakdowns both land on Dallas fourth. Lexington, Jacksonville, and Carolina look a step ahead. The last ticket is likely to again be a contest between Dallas and DC Power, and the stingy preseason is reason enough to back Trinity to hold it.
Club goal leader: Jasmine Hamid
She likely will not win the league Golden Boot; Barry’s 16 last year shows how high that bar sits, and she is still at Lexington. Leading Dallas, however, is the right-sized bet. Hamid is a proven Super League scorer, with nine goals in the inaugural season and four more last year for Fort Lauderdale, who simply never got going after the move to Dallas. Now she is the central striker in Nguyen’s new system, coming off a two-goal preseason finale, on a roster stripped of its other established finishers. The chances run through her.
Assist leader: Camryn Lancaster
Three assists led Trinity’s returning forwards last season, and that came largely off the bench. She should be a lock starter this season, feeding Hamid and running off the interchanges in midfield. Lancaster is positioned to be the primary creator, and has tremendous upside.
The Bottom Line
New owners, a new manager, an almost entirely new roster, and 14 matches to make it cohere. Dallas Trinity are asking a great deal of a team that has barely played together, in a format that rewards a fast start and forgives little. The preseason suggested Nguyen has already built something solid at the back, and back-to-back playoff runs give the club a standard to defend. A third straight trip to the semifinals is the target. It starts Saturday, at home, against the side that fell furthest last year.