The spring season is almost upon us, what should each club’s focus be in the drive to the playoffs?
The 2025/26 Gainbridge Super League season returns next Saturday night with a full slate of action, including a top-three clash between first-placed Sporting Club Jacksonville and third-placed Carolina Ascent FC at Hodges Stadium.
As the clubs prepare for the spring season, we’ve got an area that each needs to improve as the teams below the playoff line try to make their move up the standings, and the four teams currently in line for the Gainbridge Super League Playoffs look to maintain or improve their position.
Tune in for all the action on Saturday, January 31 starting at 5 p.m. ET on Peacock.
9. Tampa Bay Sun FC – Become More Aggressive
There’s a world that’s ailing the defending title-holders as they enter the second half of the season with only one win to their name. At the top of the list is the goal differential, which sees the Sun last in the league in both goals (13) and goals conceded (24). As important as that’s going to be to address, where the team has also struggled is in winning and retaining possession.
As Tampa Bay surged into the postseason last spring before winning the title, it was one of the most aggressive sides in terms of winning the ball in advantageous positions. The Sun ranked second in the league with 819 recoveries and third in both duels won (726) and possession won in the attacking third (94). Right now, the team is last in recoveries (683), seventh in possession won in the attacking third (69) and sixth in duels won (706). Possession isn’t everything, but the Sun need more of the ball in better spaces to turn things around.
8. DC Power FC – Secondary Scoring Step Up
Gianna Gourley (pictured) has been a wonder this season, and a nominee for the Mid-Season Player of the Year award for good reason. She’s also been on an island when it comes to scoring for DC Power. In the eight games where Gourley has logged a goal contribution, the Power are 3-1-4, or an average of 1.63 points per game. That would currently have the side in the playoff positions. When Gourley isn’t on the scoresheet, the side is 0-4-2, which accounts for their current spot.
With Gourley having recorded either a goal or assist on more than half of DC’s 19 goals this season, she needs multiple teammates to step up in support. Dasia Torbert (263 mins/goal) and Loza Abera (273.5 mins/goal) each have two goals in limited minutes and could be options, but the Power need to find someone other than Gourley to shoulder the attacking output.
7. Brookyln FC – String Together a Run
Can you name the last time Brooklyn FC recorded consecutive victories? If you picked the club’s six-game winning streak to close the fall campaign in the Gainbridge Super League’s inaugural season, give yourself a pat on the back. Over the 29 games since then, Brooklyn has notched only five victories, and none in back-to-back outings.
The positive is BKFC kept itself in the hunt for the playoffs with 10 points in its last six outings before the break, but the ups-and-downs between outings remained, with the attack only really firing against Tampa Bay Sun FC in the final game of the fall. If Brooklyn’s going to make its first postseason, it needs to start stringing performances like that together and put pressure on the clubs higher up the standings.
6. Fort Lauderdale United FC – Reduce High-Quality Chances
Last year’s finalist hasn’t conceded the most goals in the Gainbridge Super League this season – that goes to its in-state rival Tampa Bay Sun FC – but it has allowed the highest Expected Goals Against mark in the league at 22.1xGA. What’s more, a good portion of that has been off its own device. Fort Lauderdale ranks second in the league with six goals allowed off errors, which is crucial to the big opportunities it’s laid on for opponents this season.
In fairness to FTL UTD, mistakes happen. Every team in the league has allowed at least two goals due to errors this season per Opta, but for Fort Lauderdale it’s been key to why the side is sitting below the playoff line right now. In other areas, the side is performing well defensively. It’s allowed only 60 shots on target, tied for fourth in the league, and ranks second with 54 blocked shots. Clean up the mistakes and there’s a path to a second postseason berth.
5. Spokane Zephyr FC – Protect Your House
One of the typical elements to success in any league is winning at home. While Spokane Zephyr won more games at ONE Spokane Stadium than some of the league’s strugglers in the fall, its four home defeats were the most in the league and crucial to the side finding itself two points out of a spot in the playoff positions at the break.
Spokane has been one of the most interesting sides in the league in that it has greatly underperformed its Expected Goals mark – 15 goals on 19xG – and greatly overperformed its Expected Goals Against mark – 15 goals allowed on 20.71xGA (thank you, Hope Hisey). If Zephyr is going to break through and earn a first postseason trip, better finishing will be essential, but it must also make its home turf a more difficult place for opponents to visit.
4. Dallas Trinity FC – Ride the Wave
Dallas Trinity’s six-game winless streak from mid-September to mid-November was a nightmare. Despite narrowly recording a positive Expected Goal Differential (+0.46xGD) the side had a -13 goal differential on the field as it conceded 18 goals and scored only five times.
The good news for Trinity is since its 2-0 win away at Spokane Zephyr on November 15, the side has found form and good fortune again. A 3-0-1 end to the campaign saw Dallas move into the top four, even while its underlying numbers were much more concerning than during its winless run – Trinity’s Expected Goal Differential over its final four games sat at -2.98xGD compared to a +4GD on the field. With new Head Coach Nathan Thackary in place and the most games to play of any side in the second half of the season, Dallas will be aiming to ride the wave and get back to the playoffs.
3. Carolina Ascent FC – Sharpen Up in Front of Goal
In terms of chance creation, Carolina Ascent is one of the better teams in the Gainbridge Super League. It ranks third in the league with a 22.38 Expected Goals mark – 0.3xG behind second-ranked Sporting Club Jacksonville – and second in the league with 194 total shots, an average of 13.9 per game.
The challenge for Ascent has been turning those chances into goals. Only Spokane Velocity FC is underperforming its Expected Goals mark by more, with Carolina sitting at a -3.38xG deficit on 19 goals this season. That’s caused by an eighth-ranked shooting accuracy rate of 39.8 percent on unblocked shots, only 59 shots on target and a 12.8% shot conversion rate. Carolina should be a contender for silverware at the end of the season, but it needs to find its shooting boots in the second half of the campaign.
2. Lexington SC – Find More Consistency
In the big picture, there’s been no team more dominant than Lexington SC over the first half of the season. The side is undefeated through 14 games and has scored the most goals (28) and conceded the fewest (13) of any team in the league. Go to a more granular level, though, and you understand why LSC isn’t top of the standings. In seven outings it has recorded multiple goals, but in the other seven it has scored once or been held off the scoreboard. In those latter seven games – including three scoreless draws – the side has yet to record a win.
There is no question the talent that Lexington has aggregated in its lineup – it boasts two of the league’s top-four goalscorers in Addie McCain and Catherine Barry with Tatiana Fung and Emina Ekic in the top six in assists – but there’s been a hit-and-miss element that has the side in second place. If it figures out more attacking consistency game-to-game, it will push its bid to win the Players’ Shield into overdrive.
1. Sporting Club Jacksonville – Close Out Stronger
Sporting Club Jacksonville has come on in leaps and bounds in its inaugural season. It cleaned up its early defensive problems – Sporting JAX leads the league with seven goals conceded from errors, but all seven came in the club’s first five games of the season – and is arguably the hottest club in the league in front of goal – Jacksonville’s 22.2% shot conversion rate and 53.2% shooting accuracy rate lead the league.
Where Jacksonville can improve, though, is in its second-half performances. While this was partly an early-season phenomenon, Sporting is tied for the most goals conceded in the second half of games so far this season with 16. That’s resulted in seven points dropped from winning positions, the most of any team currently in the playoff positions. Clean that up and Sport