Midweek Matchday In Brooklyn

Brooklyn FC finished 2024 on a 6 game winning streak and looked dominant in the USL Super League as the top flight women’s division took a winter break. Since they’ve returned to play, head coach Jessica Silva’s women have yet to find a way back to winning ways.

Over the weekend, Brooklyn was able to end a three game losing streak with a draw away to DC Power - but before that, in the middle of last week, Brooklyn hosted Dallas for the final regular season meeting of the two sides. While Brooklyn FC won the two matchups in the first half of the season, Dallas most recently dismantled Brooklyn 6-0 at the Cotton Bowl on March 9th.

This was a chance, not only for Brooklyn to win the series, but to exact a little revenge for the beating. Silva changed up her formation a little bit, from the 4-1-4-1 with Dana Sheriff up top to a 4-3-3 and Brazilian U-20 Luana Grabias leading the line. As it turns out, it wasn’t the offense which let Brooklyn down - they had a bit more of the ball than the visitors, with 52% possession but also outshot Dallas 13 to 12 and generated 7 corners to just 2 for Trinity FC.

Dallas Trinity did not change their formation, as Head Coach Pauline MacDonald kept the squad in an attack-minded 3-5-2 and just like their last encounter, both Cameryn Lancaster and Allie Thornton were up top. With the midfield flooded with Trinity players, it must have been difficult for Brooklyn’s keeper, Sydney Martinez, to pick out a player as they tried to play it out of the back. Although she’s an excellent shot-stopper, she had her pocket picked, not once, but twice to give Dallas an easy 2 goal lead.

It was Lancaster who scored the first one, nicking the ball from Martinez in the middle of her distribution then putting it into the empty net in the 6th minute of play. Thornton also disrupted Martinez during her distribution out of the back and the ball clipped into the net in the 18th. While Brookln’’s Mackenzie Pluck looked dangerous all night, the home side were unable to pull one back. Sealy Strawn, who subbed into the match in the second half for Chioma Ubogagu at left winger, got on the scoresheet when Gracie Brian penetrated the left channel into the box - she was turned away by Brooklyn’s defenders; however, she played a ball back to to the top of the box for Lancaster to take a blast. Martinez made an extraordinary save but the ball only went as far as the 6-yard box and Strawn was there to put the proverbial nail in the coffin.

Photographer and friend of Protagonist Soccer, Luke Chávez, was at MCU Park in Brooklyn, taking photos and we’re privileged enough to share them here.

- match report by Joshua Duder
- photos by Luke Chávez