Legion WFC dominate in final home game
Birmingham Legion WFC defeat Tennessee SC 4-1 to close out their 2025 home schedule.
On an extremely hot and humid afternoon, Birmingham Legion WFC powered through to end the season strong.
Despite temperatures nearing 100F, the Three Sparks showed energy to get ahead early, continue to push and ultimately win 4-1 in their final home game of the season at Dunnavant Valley Fields.
“I think we took advantage of what was in front of us today,” Nathan Archard, Legion WFC head coach, said. “A lot of motivation with the last home game, wanting to play well and wanting to put everything together. It’s been a while since we’ve had two consistent halves of playing well together, but I think we did that today.”
Despite having six home games on the schedule, Legion WFC only played three at Dunnavant Valley this summer. Two took place at Veterans Park, in Alabaster, while the most recent saw a last-minute switch to Briarwood Christian School.
Wednesday’s win meant that, despite having only a 50% win rate at home, the team went perfect on the Legion training fields with three wins from three.
Game Recap
The Three Sparks got off to a perfect start, opening the score just three minutes into the game.
Lauren Lucero found space down the left flank and send in a deep cross. Mary Frances Symmes picked it up at the opposite end, drove forward and blasted the ball into the top of the net from a tight angle.
“It’s very important to set the tone early, especially in this heat,” Symmes said, after describing playing in that heat and humidity as “horrible.”
Despite her struggles with the extreme temperatures, the midfielder was a livewire in the early exchanges. Symmes found herself at the center of multiple Legion WFC attacks, driving forward at will.
A mazy run through the heart of Tennessee’s midfield in the 7th minute ended with a slightly overhit pass to Ali Howard. Eight minutes later, Symmes came close to grabbing her brace when Sydney Soehn’s cross found her at the back post. Her shot bounced off the inside of the opposite post before being cleared by the defense.
The game stopped for the first of four water breaks immediately after the play, but Legion WFC didn’t have to wait long after the restart to get their second.
Lucero pressed high and won the ball off Tennessee’s right back in the 19th minute. After alrady assisting the opener, the midfielder drove down the left wing again before sending a cutback towards the edge of the box. Kate Smith ran on to it, took a touch to settle herself and nestled a low shot inside the post to double the lead.
“We highlighted [starting quick] in the pre-game talk,” Archard said. “If you start fast, especially with the heat, before we tire out, before they tire out, just get on top of the game, get multiple goals early, then it’s going to be a lot easier for us to settle in and get a rhythm and just tire them out.”
The Birmingham girls continued to dominate the game for the rest of the half, but had to wait until the 37th to add a third.
Symmes was involved again, driving at the TSC defense once more. After overhitting her pass to Howard half-an-hour earlier, this time she made no mistake. The weight of it was perfect, and Howard’s finish clinical, driving it into the bottom corner for the 3-0.
The pair combined again in the second half as Howard got her brace 10 minutes after the restart.
Symmes sent in a dangerous corner from the left side, and though the initial ball was cleared, it fell to Howard on the edge of the six-yard box. The forward spun and powered her second goal of the game into the bottom corner.
“Coach was just saying ‘third goal, and then we start rolling,’” Howard said. “It was good. Good ball in by [Symmes], and I was just in the right spot and finished well.”
Howard did not get a chance at a hat-trick as she was substituted off only a few minutes later. With the Tennessee team flailing — the visitors had no substitutes available to them — Archard made mutltiple changes to try and keep his team fresh and on the front foot.
Legion WFC had a couple more chances as a result, though failed to add on to their four-goal lead. Lucero had two attempts fly straight at the opposition’s goalkeeper as she looked to add on to her two assists, while second-half subs Sofia Sasan and Addison Soehn both had decent chances of their own.
“It was good,” Archard said. “They’re going to have to try to chase the game at some point, so gaps and things are going to open up by them stepping up and pushing a bit more forward. So us having a couple goals allows us to just sit back and just play a little bit of a slower pace, just drawing them out and then we can capitalize on chances behind them.”
It was however Tennessee SC who got the game’s final goal, a late consolation in the 87th minute with their first shot on target.
It made no difference to the outcome, with the result already settled much earlier in the afternoon.
“Feeling good,” Symmes said. “It’s overdue. We finally got a lot of points on the board.”
“Good team win, overall,” Howard added. “I think we all just connected well. And it was a hot one, so we pushed through.”
While the win did not lift Legion WFC off the bottom spot in the USL W League’s South Central Division, the Three Sparks are now tied for points with 5th-place Tennessee and 6th-place One Knoxville on 10 points.
Every team has one game left in the season, with Legion WFC traveling to third-place Southern Soccer Academy Saturday.
“Glad the girls have worked hard,” Archard said of the season. “Obviously we’ve had some bumps along the way but at the same time we want to finish the season strong and put everybody in a good mindset going into their preseasons for college and where they’re going next.”
Game facts
Birmingham Legion WFC starters (4-2-3-1): Mac Titus; Peyton Free, Langston Lilly, Kierson McDonald, Sydney Soehn; Mary Frances Symmes, Tatum Ahlemeyer; Kate Smith, Avery Berryman, Lauren Lucero; Ali Howard.
Substitutes: Annie McBride (45’ for Berryman), Addison Soehn (45’ for Kate Smith), Laine Minnich (45’ for Titus), Sofia Sasan (59’ for Howard), Imani Hamilton (63’ for Lilly), and Torri Botthof (66’ for Free).
Goals: Symmes (3’, assisted by Lucero), Smith (19’, assisted by Lucero), Howard (37’, assisted by Symmes) and Howard (55’).