Tampa Bay Sun FC: USL Super League Final vs. Fort Lauderdale Preview
Written by James Knowles
Date: Saturday June 14, 2025
Kickoff Time: 7:30 pm EST at Riverfront Stadium in Tampa, FL
Records: This is the USL Super League Final. Tampa Bay host as the second overall seed in the USL Super League with 46 points.
Standings: The Sun finished 2nd in the Super League and United finished 4th.
It’s been an incredible inaugural season for the USL Super League – but it’s not over yet. With just one game to go, the newest iteration of the Tampa-Fort Lauderdale derby takes center stage again. The Sun will host FLOOTD to be the first ever champion. Both sides have fought, scratched, and scrapped for every point. Now, the day of destiny looms. Make sure you’re one of the people who take in history this weekend at the Riverfront Stadium in Tampa!
How do we win this trophy?
This fixture first took place in the buildup to the 2024-25 Super League campaign, during the hot months of a summer preseason. Now, almost halfway through June of 2025, they will meet for the sixth time overall. The first four matches, including that preseason game, ended in draws. The latest one, though, in early April, finished a 2-0 win to the Tampa Bay Sun.
The idea that either manager will spring a surprise on the other is probably fanciful. The players who are doing well for each team are only as new as January, and each staff will be familiar with the other’s danger points. It’s likely this game will come down to individual talent and belief – as well as the ever-present possibility of mistakes in bad areas.
If you, reader and likely Sun fan, watched the Carolina vs. Fort Lauderdale semifinal to get a good perspective on whichever side Tampa Bay would be playing, you’re not alone. Additionally, from that match, you would get a relatively good sense of where their upcoming opponents FLOOTD like to play and how they would like to get the ball down the field.
This style has been on display for most of the season. It’ll also show up if you just look at their stats when available. The main players in their buildup are Addie McCain in the middle of the field and Sh’Nia Gordon and Jasmine Hamid on the wings. Together, they have combined for over 20 goals and six assists. They understand each other extremely well this far into the year.
Up top, January-signing Kiara Locklear has joined from the college ranks and exploded with offensive output. She has seven goals and five assists including those from the weekend. Fans of the Ascent have complained that the second was offside. VAR, of course, is not present in the Super League – and there may be evidence Locklear actually was onside anyway.
Fort Lauderdale were looking for that ball over the top to their star striker a lot in that game. It may be partly down to how Carolina play, which will be different from the Sun’s defensive setup. Brooke Hendrix and Viv Bessette are both good in the air, with the intelligence generally to avoid putting themselves in places where they’d be vulnerable to balls dinked over their line.
Keeping a clean sheet twice, FLOOTD have also kept their opponents to at most one goal in the last five games. They are defensively sound with the aforementioned Gordon helping the backline recently. Central defender Laurel Ansbrow, another January-signing out of college, has helped shore things up in front of the imposing figure of Cosette Morche in net.
The good news is the Sun know how to score. With Sydny Nasello’s dribbling and Carlee Giammona’s combination play, there is a significant foundation from which to build chances for regular striker Cecilie Floe. Tampa Bay will try to get it to these individuals as quickly as they can, often using the wall pass off Tash Flint, to put opponents in a tough position at speed.
Every one of these players has added to their own skillset over the course of the season – or at least, they have done different things more often. Nasello can draw so much attention to herself that the defense rotates toward her, leaving others free. There’s also the brutal press the Sun will employ. They have many ways to make you pay. Fans will be hoping they do just that, and put FLOOTD to the sword on Saturday.