The Sporting Jax women’s team returned to Hodges Stadium for their home opener against Tampa Bay Sun FC on Saturday, August 22.
Tampa Bay scored the only goal in the first half; however Jacksonville came back in a big way in the second half.
Ashlyn Puerta, the 2025-26 Gainbridge Super League Player of the Year, found the back of the net less than a minute into the second half.
Puerta sat out for the whole first half, which she said ended up working to her advantage.
“The benefit of watching the whole first half is I knew that space was open,” she said.
With the match tied, Jacksonville’s go-ahead goal came in the 60th minute when a Meg Hughes pass found its way to forward Baylee DeSmit, who scored to give her squad the lead.
“I think with being that one striker, you’ve really got to be focused on varying when you’re going to drop in,” DeSmit said.
That was not the end of the night for DeSmit as she found the net again ten minutes later. She had two goals in the match and now has three goals on the season.
Tampa Bay fought their way back into the match, scoring in the 76th minute, but goalkeeper Jamie Gerstenberg and Jacksonville’s defense were able to hold Tampa Bay off to get the win with a final score of 3-2.
With a 2-0 record on the season, head coach Stacey Balaam is happy with the progress her team is making.
“Those 30 minutes once we started the second half were a really big 30 minutes for us, probably the best I’ve seen us in a long time,” she said.
The women’s team will be back at Hodges Stadium on Saturday, August 29 to take on Dallas Trinity FC
