Two goals off bench in final two games of Fall Schedule helped Jacksonville to four points, first place in standings
At the midway point of the club’s inaugural season, Sporting Club Jacksonville sat atop the Gainbridge Super League.
Over its final two games of the fall schedule, Katie Sullivan was a big reason why.
The first-year pro first delivered a late equalizer against Fort Lauderdale United FC in the club’s penultimate game of December and then provided what proved the winner in a 3-1 victory against defending title-holder Tampa Bay Sun FC on December 20 to lift Jacksonville into first place in the standings.
For her performance, Sullivan has been selected as December’s Prinx Impact Sub of the Month, a new series highlighting key substitutions that have changed the course of a game this season.
The 23-year-old served as the final roll of the dice for Jacksonville as it trailed Fort Lauderdale by a goal inside the final 10 minutes at Hodges Stadium, coming on with six minutes to play. The former Johns Hopkins University striker made the most of her chance, opportunistically turning home the rebound after Jade Pennock’s stretching effort had come back off the left post with a minute to play to earn the hosts a point.
“When they scored, we knew that there was still time left, and we had that feeling that we were going to get one back and be able to tie up the game,” said Sullivan after the game. “I know that we can score with even one minute left on the clock, so it’s important that we just never give up, and I don’t think we ever do.”
Sullivan then got an extended stint in Sporting’s fall finale, coming on at the halftime break with Jacksonville holding a one-goal lead against Tampa Bay. After bagging her first goal in the professional ranks seven days earlier, she made it two goals in two games with a sharp first-time finish off Paige Kenton’s low cross from the left that tucked inside the right post.
While Tampa Bay immediately pulled a goal back through Jordan Fusco, Sporting’s Andrea Fernández also struck off the bench to add an insurance marker to see the side to its league-best seventh win of the season.
Finishing the fall with four wins in its final five games, Jacksonville heads into the spring with a one-point lead over Lexington SC as it bids for silverware in its first campaign. For Sullivan and her teammates, it’s a position they might not have expected to be in as a first-year squad, but are now eager to capitalize on.
“I think it’s something that maybe we all didn’t expect, because we were a new team, and we’re definitely a younger team, but we work so hard and every day in practice, and we knew we could do it,” said Sullivan after the side’s victory against Tampa Bay. “We just had to be able to produce those results in games, and now they’re coming our way, so I think seeing all of our hard work come to fruition is something that’s really great.”
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