Fort Lauderdale United gets Thrashed by the Tampa Bay Sun

By Daniel Feuerstein | February 22nd, 2026| Tampa Bay, FL

The Florida State Derby is back again as the South Florida Team travels up to Western Florida. It’s Fort Lauderdale United taking on the Tampa Bay Sun as these two sides once again come out big and put on a show. But in this match-up, it would be the Sun shining brightly against FTL United as they got the job done to take the full three points at home. The Sun handed Interim Head Coach Paul Jennison his first loss of his tenure by a final score of three goals to nil.

Game Recap: A strong performance

In the 12th minute of the match, the Sun attacked down the far side and tried to set up the play, but Fort Lauderdale made a stop. There was an attempt to clear the ball, but the Sun got it back and tried a pass or a shot, which was blocked. Sydny Nasello pounced on the loose ball, settled it just inside the area, and struck it into the top corner. Even though McKinley Crone did get her hands on the ball, it still went into the back of the net.

In the 57th minute, Nasello created a second opportunity. Attacking down the near flank, she used a series of stepovers to unbalance her defender before cutting inside, where she was brought down by Laveni Vaka. The referee immediately whistled for a penalty. Nasello stepped up and rifled the spot-kick into the roof of the net, doubling the Sun’s lead to 2-0.

The Sun had the match well in hand, but kept on attacking down the near side. Sandrine Mauron entered the top of the area, then she made a quick pass toward the near side and right at Faith Webber, attacked the near post, and went short side to beat Crone as she shot it off the post and in. This was a tough loss to take for FTL United, as they fell in this derby. With Interim Paul Jennison head coaching his second match, hopefully, he can fix the problems before everything spirals downhill.

Post Game Reaction: Interim Head Coach Paul Jennison

“We’re looking forward to training and getting some fundamentals worked on. That’s on me tonight. The players applied that and were fighting. I think we’ve got a lot of things that we can take out of the game, even though the scoreline was not what we wanted. Passages of play were very good — we’re creating chances, and the results are disappointing, but I think you’ve got to look at the things you were able to do. So we’re looking forward to hitting the practice field and to push those areas, but we’ve got to stay together as a group. We’ve got to keep fighting. The  big thing was that there was never any stop through the entire game from the team, so we have to take that and roll with it for the remainder of the season.”

Sophie Harding’s Second Consecutive Start

Since Sophie Harding has come to the club, she’s been part of Jennison’s plan to help get this team back on the right track. She’s getting acclimated to the club and learning where to go in key areas of the pitch to make plays happen.

“Coming in a little bit later and joining the team late wasn’t ideal, but I think the Christmas break gave me some time to integrate myself with the team and have a mini preseason. Obviously, my second start wasn’t the result we wanted tonight, but I do feel like I’m finding my feet, and each game’s getting better, so I’m hoping we can get some results soon and hopefully I can bang in a few goals.”

Fort Lauderdale United’s next match is back home on Saturday, March 14th, as they host Sporting Jax back at Beyond Bancard Field at 7:30 PM Eastern. Head over to the stadium or watch it live streaming on NBC’s Peacock App or Website

Final Score: Tampa Bay Sun 3 – 0 Fort Lauderdale United

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