Tampa Bay Sun FC will play inaugural game in August

Tampa’s new professional women’s soccer team will kick off its season Aug. 18 at the renovated Riverfront Stadium on the campus of Blake High School. It will take on Dallas Trinity FC.

The game will not only be the first in the season for Tampa Bay Sun FC; it will also be the first in its and Dallas’ history.

The two teams are a part of the just-formed USL Super League. In its inaugural season, the Tampa-based Division One professional women’s soccer league will feature eight teams from cities including Charlotte and Washington, D.C., in addition to Tampa and Dallas.

Five other cities will have teams that will start playing in 2025.

The game will also be a sort of homecoming for two of local players: Bradenton native and University of Florida star Erika Tymrak and Jordyn Listro who set a record for the University of South Florida for most games played as a Bull. Both are midfielders

While the team, and the league, have set out to introduce high-quality women’s soccer to the populous, it has already made a big impact on one local school.

Earlier this year Sun FC’s ownership reached an agreement with Hillsborough County’s School Board to transform a stadium at Howard W. Blake High School. In exchange for allowing the team to play at the stadium, it committed to $6 million in renovations which include expanding capacity from 1,800 to about 5,000.

The upgrades, which are ongoing, will remain when it moves to a permanent home at some point.