The champions from last season’s league, Lexington, and the first-season side of Tampa Bay Sun met, with the Sun walking home with a 1-1 draw after twenty minutes and missing a chance to steal three more. The best performance of Shea Connors this season, Addie McCain, who is in her form two years in a row, and Denise Schilte-Brown’s squad had created the best looks possible but managed to secure only one point for the side.
The Sun dominated the first half, then lost. Tampa Bay was the team that seemed to want the game in Lexington’s half. Shea Connors, Sydny Nasello, Tori Waldeck, and the midfielders’ pair of Jordyn Listro and Jordan Zade made the life of Lexington’s goalkeeper hard. Lexington’s squad, which hadn’t scored in the first half this season, lined up in a 4-4-2, daring their opponents to break that block and waited. For half an hour Tampa was the better team, although they weren’t dominating the game or doing anything spectacular. They were simply playing better soccer.
And then the 31st minute came. Campbell was forced to make a diving save, and usually, it kills any move. But not this time. The ball flew up, and Campbell wasn’t able to reset her position; Connors seized that moment and headed the ball into the net. And that’s it. That was the goal in one sentence and the main tactic of the Sun this season: to get numbers around the penalty box, force the goalkeeper to make a decision, and send the Australian finisher there. Campbell, who hadn’t conceded a goal since September 11 and had only 0.6 goals conceded per game, the best statistic in the league, saw her unbeaten streak end in such an ugly way, but also in such a reliable way.
The best performer from Tampa Bay in the first half was Shea Connors, of course, with Sydny Nasello coming close second as the creator and scorer, which makes this squad a dangerous opponent despite the mess in the finishing stage. Listro, the captain of the squad, was the one who kept the team from chaos. On Lexington’s side, Campbell was magnificent except for that one mistake, and Regan Steigleder was the one defender who refused to stretch the game. Catherine Barry, who has already scored 19 goals this season and whose game has tormented Tampa Bay all last spring, was quiet. And it mattered.
But ten minutes after the first goal the game turned completely. Corner, 41st minute. Ally Brown played the ball to the back post, where Addie McCain was waiting. The goal was Lexington’s first in the first half of the season, McCain’s third goal this season, and her 22nd regular-season goal in the Gainbridge Super League. The Brown-to-McCain connection was successful in two consecutive matches in a row. Who was responsible for that on the Lexington side? The reports didn’t put the blame on one player for that, and they were right. The back post header from a corner is a unit mistake. Whoever was covering McCain on that side—Guidry, Hill, Bessette, Chism, whatever—missed the league’s most reliable finisher, and Cristina Roque had nothing left but watching McCain score the goal. Connors’ goal could be expected. McCain’s goal was not.
The momentum tells the story better than the score. Before Connors’ goal, Tampa Bay was controlling the game. They were the team that was forcing the diving save, that was playing in the final third, and that Schilte-Brown was trying to build: direct, with the numbers in the box, with the Connors as the finisher. After that goal, for about ten minutes, the Sun played better football. And then the corner. After McCain’s goal, Lexington had the psychological advantage and corner kick advantage, and the Sun seemed to have realized that they still hadn’t managed to keep a clean sheet. The halftime score was 1-1, and if you were scoring the first half, the Sun had the advantage in the balance of play and Lexington in the decisive moment.
Did they perform what their coach had wanted to see from them in the first half? Mainly yes, and then no. The goal was the entire game plan: second balls, numbers in the box, and the finisher who does not wait for the perfect pass. The mistake was that part of the game plan that keeps failing. Yes, pressing could lead to scoring, and conceding a corner kick to the league’s most reliable back post finisher is not a tactical masterpiece. It is a team that knows how to score and doesn’t know how to survive the corner kick.
The second half is where the point was left on the table. Lexington had more possession. Tampa Bay had more shots and shots on target; that is what a home team should do to win. Campbell made three saves. Schilte-Brown changed her squad: Erika Zschuppe substituted Waldeck at the break, and then Brooke Hendrix, Sabrina McNeil, and Parker Goins. The plan was to have a fresh wave at the goalkeeper. But this wave never washed Tampa Bay. Connors, still the most dangerous player, struck outside the box and sent her shot too high. It was a wasted chance, just a smaller version of the ones they usually convert. It wasn’t a sure shot or a howler; it was just another look that a team so hot in front of goal was supposed to convert into the second.
It became a draw because Lexington defended like the champions they are and because Tampa Bay couldn’t create chances of the highest level once the game was stretched and tense. Neither side could invent anything magical after the 41st minute. McCain did his damage already. Nasello, who is still the best chance creator with his 7.8 rating for the match, couldn’t find the final pass that would have broken the line. Three saves from Campbell, and Connors missed from outside the box. That is how 1-0 becomes 1-1 and stays like that.
So is Shea Connors the MVP of the Gainbridge Super League? She is the MVP of the Tampa Bay side, and she is the in-form goalscorer of the fall. She came in with four goals in four matches and scored in her fourth consecutive match. She left with five goals and the goal in the fifth consecutive match: Jacksonville, Carolina, Fort Lauderdale, DC Power, and now Lexington. Nasello is still the best chance creator of the club, and McCain is still the one who defines the team with her performances and sets records. If you were voting for the MVP, Connors would be in that list and would have the best arguments on behalf of the Sun. But she is not the MVP, while Carolina is running away with the table, and McCain is the one setting the records and breaking the records. Connors is, without argument, the in-form goalscorer and the reason this draw isn’t a waste of time.
Is the result acceptable? A point at home against the defending champions, after being ahead, is not a disaster. But it is also not a climb. The Sun have scored nine goals in six fall matches, a goal in every game, and Connors is scoring those goals. The other number is the one that annoys all of the people in the stadium: still no clean sheet this season, and the longest streak of clean sheet drought is now long enough to require two goals for winning the match. The team has now gone thirteen matches without a clean sheet.
That leaves the team in a basic situation. Carolina Ascent is at the top, leading the pack with 16 points in seven matches. DC Power and Sporting JAX have 11 points. Lexington has ten after their draw, and Dallas is in that same group. The Sun have 9 points from six matches, are only two points away from second place, and have a game in hand against most of the teams in the top places. It is not a crisis; it is a gap that they can close with one game at home. It is a gap that can widen if they drop another result against the team that is clearly taking over the league.
Sunday’s match was a draw that Sun could explain and should be annoyed about. Connors is the best player in the squad. McCain reminded them of the fact that set pieces win championships. Campbell stole the second half. The table is still there. Carolina comes in on Saturday.
Keep supporting The Sun.
Vamos Sun!
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