Tampa Bay Sun FC’s history-making season as the Bay Area’s first women’s professional sports team finishes with a boat parade down the Hillsborough River.
The June 17th parade for the USL Super League’s first champion continues a Tampa tradition that celebrated the Lighting’s back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021 and the Bucs’ 2021 Super Bowl. Just the possibility of a boat parade motivated the team during their six-match undefeated run over the end of the regular season and the playoffs, says Sun captain Jordyn Listro.
“We would say, ‘Come on, we can be on a boat soon,’” Listro says.
The Sun began play last August with an opening-match draw against Dallas Trinity FC in front of a sold-out home crowd at Riverfront Stadium. The season culminated in mid-June with a 1-0 league championship victory over in-state rival Fort Lauderdale United FC in front of a sold-out home crowd at Riverfront Stadium.
Along the way, the Sun started slowly while playing their first several matches without several key international players who were tied up in lengthy visa processing. Playing together as a group for the first time, they gelled and bonded as a team over time. By May, the Sun were playing their best soccer of the season at
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Courtesy Tampa Bay Sun FCCecilie Fløe celebrates her extra time goal in the USL Super League championshipthe perfect time, Listro says. Their six-match undefeated streak had one draw sandwiched between five wins, including victories over Dallas in the semifinals and the championship win against Fort Lauderdale on Cecilie Fløe's extra time goal.
“It was just a great moment,” Sun coach Denise Schilte-Brown says. “The culmination of all the hard work and dedication and your gratitude for what everybody has done for you along the way all come at that one moment. It was really emotional. Some people never experience that kind of moment in their life, so a lot of gratitude.”
Listro says the championship is the ultimate pay-off for the willingness to take a chance and join a team in its first season playing in a league in its first season.
“I think most everyone on the team took a leap of faith because it was a brand new league, a brand new team, and a brand new city for most girls,” she says. “So we honestly had no idea what to expect. It was definitely a little bit scary but it has been an incredible experience that exceeded all of my expectations. We had a talented roster on paper and high expectations of ourselves. In the fall we didn’t get the results we wanted. We knew we were capable of more. Come the spring part of the season we peaked at the right time. It was exciting and it’s surreal that we are here with a championship under our belt.”
Championship season storylines
The championship season was chock-full of storylines. There were the local ties. Listro is one of several Sun players who played for Schilte-Brown at USF. She’s played for NWSL clubs Orlando Pride, North Carolina Courage, and FC Kansas City during her professional career. But she and her husband, a professional golfer and fellow USF Bull, have stayed Tampa residents since college. Now, she’s won a championship with her hometown team.
“It’s surreal, honestly,” she says.
There were the veteran players sailing off into the sunset with a championship.
Bradenton native Erika Tymrak, a former U.S. Women’s National Team player, two-time NWSL Champion, and member of the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame, and England’s Jade Moore, who’s played on big-name clubs like Leeds United and Manchester United and the English national team, are both retiring after long, accomplished careers.
Schilte-Brown says Moore came to Tampa to win a championship and her poise and presence helped make it happen.
“She really stepped into a leadership role,” Schilte-Brown says. “I credit her a lot for bringing the team together. When there are highs and lows you need team leaders who will bring you back together.”
There were the young players stepping up when needed. Early in the season, Sun FC academy players, teenagers in the club’s youth development program, filled in while the international players were tied up in visa processing.
“That was truly teamwork,” Schilte-Brown says. “That was one of the amazing
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Courtesy Tampa Bay Sun FCThe sell-out crowd at Riverfront Stadium cheers on the Sun in the USL Super League championship final. things about this team. They won it collectively. It took much more than just the ladies on the pitch at the end to win this championship. We went through a lot of adversity. But part of being a championship team is the test of adversity.; it helps bring you closer together.”
There was the front office staff handling marketing, corporate partnerships, operations, ticket sales, and facilities. Sun President and General Manager Christina Unkel says they’re the “other championship team” who make the franchise run and the game day experience happen.
For them, Unkel says, “Game day’s not on game day; game day is every day.”
There were the Sun’s owners – Ybor City developer Darryl Shaw, Bern’s Steak House co-owner David Laxer, and Jeff Fox, the former chief information officer of BluePearl Pet Hospital. Three childhood friends and longtime soccer fans who grew up together in Tampa Bay got to watch the hometown team they started come together and win a championship.
Shaw says as the season progressed, he could see the players developing “a bond and camaraderie that was evident on the field.”
“In the latter part of the season it just all came together nicely,” he says.
Everything led up to the June 14th championship game. Shaw says crews working in shifts day and night at Riverfront Stadium to replace the video scoreboard downed during last year’s hurricanes finished putting up the new video scoreboard around midnight on the morning of game day.
Despite having only four days to sell tickets, the championship match was a sell-out, just like the regular season opener and finale.
Connecting with the community
The Sun also spent their inaugural season building a presence in the community. The season launched with events like a fan fest in Dunedin and a soccer skills competition and player meet-and-greet in downtown Tampa’s Lykes Gaslight Square Park. The Sun hosted an open practice at the team facility in Ybor City. The team organized youth soccer clinics. Players visited soccer camps and participated in volunteer service projects like a Build-a-Bed event for children in need.
“We had three big service projects and several smaller ones,” Schilte-Brown says. “We just had our end-of-the-year meeting and they asked for more team service projects next year. They want four or five. They were passionate about that. It’s exciting to know they want to be a part of the community and love giving back.”
On February 5th, National Girls and Women in Sports Day, the team launched the Tampa Bay Sun Foundation and partnered with local nonprofit Rise Up Soccer on a community initiative that offers a free all-girls after-school soccer program at Title 1 schools around the Tampa Bay area.
Unkel says the program brings together two club priorities – inspiring the next generation of women athletes and leaders and giving back to the community.
“The ownership grew up here and they are committed to giving back to the community and being part of the fabric of the community,” she says. “This club was built on those same principles.”
Future stadium plans
The Sun followed their championship victory by announcing their vision for a future stadium. The 15,000-seat stadium is planned in Ybor Harbor, the 33-acre mixed-use waterfront district Sun co-owner Darryl Shaw will be developing on Ybor Channel south of Adamo Drive and adjacent to the Gasworx district. The vision includes a
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The Beck Group The vision for the Sun's future home is a 15,000-seat stadium in the Ybor Harbor mixed-use districtboutique hotel and new headquarters for the United Soccer League (USL), which currently has offices in Tampa’s Westshore District. The Beck Group has created an initial design vision for the stadium. At this early point, there is no cost estimate or timeline for construction.
So the Sun will continue to play home matches at Riverfront Stadium, a temporary home where they feel right at home. The team spent $6 million renovating, improving, and expanding the stadium in downtown's West Riverfront district. Playing in front of a dedicated group of fans with the chanting and drumming coming down from the supporter section, the Sun had 10 wins, two draws, and four losses at home and won its last six home games.
On top of the home-field advantage, Shaw says the waterfront location offers great views and a cool breeze. Fans looking for a bite to eat or a place to hang out before or after a game can walk or travel back and forth by water taxi to nearby Armature Works.
“It’s a 5,000-seat stadium and we had three sellouts between the regular season and postseason and really strong attendance at other games,” Shaw says. “So building that fan base in a stadium that feels full is great. In the early days, you don’t want to be playing in a large stadium with a smaller crowd and it just feels a little empty. It feels really good and it will give us time to build the brand, build the bond with the community, grow the fan base, and then hopefully move into a larger venue.”
The first home match of next season is August 30th against a new USL club and in-state rival Sporting JAX.
For more information, go to Tampa Bay Sun FC