Sporting Club Jacksonville’s first season was one to remember.
But its playoff run is one-and-done.
Stifled by Carolina Ascent FC for the second time in seven days, Sporting Jax ended the city’s first-ever season of professional women’s soccer with a 1-0 loss in the Gainbridge Super League semifinal on May 24 at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium.
Mackenzie George’s sixth-minute goal advanced Carolina to play for the championship at Lexington SC in May 30, while Sporting Jax, the first-year team that led the second-year league for much of the way, ended the season with four losses in its last six games. Hopes of turning a spirited debut campaign into a championship-winner faded at the finish.
“I think that’s what makes this game and this result more emotional,” said Paige Kenton, who converted from defense to forward early in the season and tied for fourth in the league with 10 goals. “This team [with this exact group of players] is never going to happen again, and so I think it’s a tough way to end it.”
Carolina’s objective was simple enough: jump in front early, and defend with tenacity, largely restricting Sporting Jax to spells of extended but harmless possession in midfield.
“They did a good job of making it tough for us when we did get on the ball, especially up front,” Kenton said.
Carolina needed barely five minutes for the lead. George raced down the right wing, exchanged quick passes with Riley Parker near the edge of the penalty area and slid her shot past Sporting Jax keeper Kaitlyn Parks from close range. From there, the Ascent shifted into lock-down mode.
Sporting Jax’s passing smacked into a brick-wall defensive line of Jill Aguilera, Meaghan Nally, Jenna Butler and Addisyn Merrick, and despite 57% possession and 17 shots, their huffing and puffing couldn’t blow Carolina’s house down.
“They’re super compact,” Sporting Jax captain Sophie Jones said. “They clog the middle for sure. We were definitely trying to go around them, but they’re super good at moving as a team and screening those passes.”
Carolina goalkeeper Sydney Martinez, named to the league’s team of the month in both March and April, stopped everything in sight — a one-on-one breakaway by Baylee DeSmit two minutes after halftime, an outside blast from Sophia Boman in the 60th minute, and a Georgia Brown header off a Grace Phillpotts cross in the 75th.
Parks kept Sporting Jax in the contest, tipping a Butler header onto the crossbar in the 23rd minute, denying Aguilera in the 55th minute and lunging to stop Audrey Coleman near the end. But when Jones’ 90th-minute header skimmed wide, the end arrived for year one.
No championship — but a league-high 54 goals and a run that few envisioned.
“A lot of us had no expectations,” Kenton said. “We couldn’t even dream of the results that happened.”
SPORTING JAX WOMEN: WHAT’S NEXT?
Now, Sporting Jax’s begins its first transition from season to off-season.
“We only have a short break, but during that break, we’re going to be doing a lot of reflecting on what is needed to move this team forward,” head coach Stacey Balaam said.
Preseason is expected to kick off in barely six weeks, although the regular season dates remain to be determined. The Super League has yet to release a schedule for 2026-27, now down to eight teams after Spokane Zephyr FC on May 20 became the first team in the circuit’s brief history to suspend operations.
Spokane’s demise adds a complication for the league’s next steps. Under the United States Soccer Federation’s Pro League Standards, updated March 26, a first-division women’s professional league must field a minimum of 10 teams by its fourth year, which would be 2027-28.
In Jacksonville, Balaam said she’s already beginning preparations for training camp in early July. While she said the club is already exploring ways to strengthen the roster for year two, she expects to keep a core together from the debut campaign.
“You’re going to see a majority of this group return,” Balaam said. “All the love, the relationships, the attachment you’ve formed for this team and these players, you’re going to see that again.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sporting Jax’s debut season ends in Super League semifinals
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
