Sporting JAX’s Ashlyn Puerta delivers a historic night; Carolina Ascent’s set pieces continue to connect
There’s a familiar top three in the Gainbridge Super League standings after a weekend in which Carolina Ascent FC maintained its eight-point lead in the standings and both Sporting Club Jacksonville and Lexington SC claimed victories in differing fashions, but the biggest storyline in Week 10 featured the reigning Player of the Year, who reclaimed her place in the spotlight with a historic performance.
Here are three things we took away from this weekend’s action.
1. Ashlyn Puerta’s Historic Night Propels Sporting JAX Forward
For a moment, when Sh’nia Gordon put Fort Lauderdale United FC ahead at Hodges Stadium inside the opening 10 minutes, the potential for the visitors to pull off another surprise result after their victory against Lexington SC at home the prior weekend seemed to appear.
Over the remaining 80 minutes, Sporting Club Jacksonville put the attacking hammer down, playing one of the dominant games of the season so far as Ashlyn Puerta led the way. The 19-year-old’s historic four-goal performance – the first in the Super League’s history – paved the way to a 4-1 win that summed up why she’s become one of the Gainbridge Super League’s stars in the span of just over a year.
Puerta’s ability to read space was in evidence on all three of her second-half goals. On the first, she made a trailing run into the box as Baylee DeSmit drew defenders to the top of the six-yard box, allowing Meg Hughes to pick her out with a cross for a first-time finish. Puerta’s second came after she snapped into a challenge as the ball arrived at the feet of Fort Lauderdale’s Daniela Todd in the attacking third and immediately drove toward the top of the box to finish, while her fourth again saw her help win possession and then play a good give-and-go with Andrea Fernández before firing home.
“It was just clicking,” Puerta said of the sides’ performance. “We’ve just been waiting for this day and waiting for the connection to come back and it did today.”
Puerta has now recorded 26 goal contributions (17G, 9A) in 35 regular season contests, averaging 164.7 minutes per goal. As a midfielder, that puts her in elite company, with this her Opta radar for the current campaign.
Jacksonville has another key game coming up next as it tries to bridge the eighth-point gap to Carolina Ascent FC at the top of the standings with six games to play, visiting Lexington SC this Friday night. Puerta and the rest of the side’s attacking corps will be hoping to pick up where they left off.
“For Ash to score four goals, big night for her tonight,” said Sporting JAX Head Coach Stacey Balaam. “She’s capable of it, but for her, [it’s] really special and it really lifts the team.”
2. Carolina Ascent Continues Drive Toward Silverware
As we noted last week, Carolina Ascent FC’s prowess from set piece is proving too much for opponents to handle this season. So it proved again in a tightly-fought contest against DC Power FC on Friday night that was decided by Rylee Baisden’s second goal in as many games, where she was set up in the right spot to take advantage of Jenna Butler’s knockdown off a corner kick by Jill Aguilera and give Carolina the only goal it would need at American Legion Memorial Stadium.
Ascent has now scored nine of its league-high 17 goals from dead ball situations, with the aerial capabilities of both Butler and new arrival Reese Tappen proving key. Butler leads the league with 21 aerial duels won while Tappen is tied for second on 16, and now both have two goal contributions apiece off set pieces this season. It might be a simple formula on paper, but the execution Carolina delivers game-in and game-out has made it one of the biggest weapons in the league.
“Honestly, we work on set pieces a lot, so I think we just stick to the process,” said Baisden. “That’s my role, to block and get around. Getting the second ball was a big thing we talked about coming into the game. I think we’re all just hungry for that, and everybody wants to score on set pieces. I’m just glad I was there to finish.”
“Her goal was not an accident,” added Ascent Head Coach Philip Poole. “She made a great countermovement once the ball went over her head, and she arrives in that spot.”
Carolina isn’t home and dry in the race for the Players’ Shield with contests against Sporting JAX and Lexington SC still to come over its final five outings, but both of those sides are going to have to find a way to deal with the threat Ascent brings aerially to challenge them.
3. Lexington SC Capitalizes on Tampa Bay’s Miscues
There was every reason why Tampa Bay Sun FC should have come away with victory at Lexington SC on Saturday night at Lexington SC Stadium.
The visitors held outshot their hosts 16-8, held a +11 advantage in recoveries and used that and a narrow advantage in duels to limit Lexington’s ability to find penetration in the attacking third, where Lexington recorded only 12 touches in the Sun’s penalty area.
Unfortunately for the Sun, a pair of crucial defensive lapses saw the only two shots Lexington would record in the final half-hour of the contest turn into goals, allowing Catherine Barry to record her 20th regular season goals in the Super League and Sarah Griffith to bag the winner with seven minutes to go in a 2-1 victory for the defending titleholders that jumped them into third place in the standings.
“We knew Tampa would compete,” said LSC Head Coach Kosuke Kimura. “But in the second half, we turned it up a notch. We got the goal and kept fighting. We didn’t back off and kept attacking. I’m so proud of the team. The subs – Hannah White, Sarah Griffith, Darya Rajaee – they came in with no problems. Hannah created the first goal. Sarah finished the second. They changed the game.”
Those changes certainly helped Lexington – White was impressive overall beyond her turn to create space for a challenging cross that caromed off a defender to Barry, who buried her opportunity sharply.
But this was a game that Tampa Bay will be hoping it won’t be looking back on with regret in a few weeks. The Sun had their opportunities to hit back after Barry’s equalizer, and carried more of the play, but aside from Eleanor Dale’s good early finish were unable to find a way through.
If there’s a silver lining for Tampa Bay, it’s that the side has taken the game to the defending Super League titleholder in both their meetings this season. If the Sun keep playing this way, there could be a path to the top four over its final six games of the season.
To get there, though, the side must start to execute more cleanly in both penalty areas to put games to bed sooner or to avoid giving opponents a way back in.