The Brief

- Tampa Bay Sun FC will play in the USL Super League’s inaugural championship final at home on Saturday.

They’ll play in-state rival Fort Lauderdale United FC. The Tampa Bay Sun is the first professional women’s soccer team in Tampa . A win Saturday would bring home the first ever professional women’s trophy home to the Tampa Bay area.

Pictured: Tampa Bay Sun FC practices ahead of Saturday's inaugural USL Super League championship game.

The Tampa Bay Sun is one of eight teams in the USL Super League. The team won a nailbiter against Dallas last weekend, advancing them to Saturday’s championship. Midfielder Carlee Giammona scored the game-winning goal.

"It was an amazing moment," Giammona said. "All game I felt like we were putting a lot of pressure on them, so for me personally, to be able to score that goal was really important and really fun, but then also just being able to play that game with my team and us all being super connected, we just played for each other."

Giammona said it’s hard to explain the feeling when she realized they had reached the championship game and they’d also be hosting it.

"You work so hard this whole year, so for it to finally come to life that we're playing in a final and we're going to play at home meant a lot to us and it kind of just justified like all our hard work," Giammona said.

Giammona said the fans are part of the reason why they’ve had so much success.

"It has meant so much to us," she said. "They always show up for our games. Even at our away games, we have a fan base, so it means a lot to us. And they're a big part of the reason why we were able to play in the finals tomorrow."

"It's just really important just for, not just women's soccer, but women's athletics to be able to play in front of our fans and for the little girls in the stands. So, we take it super seriously and that's why we want to put on a good show and we want to bring the trophy home," Giammona said.

Giammona said Fort Lauderdale is a talented team. They’ve played them a lot, and she said they know what they need to do Saturday to win.

On Saturday, Armature Works is hosting a pregame party from 4-6 p.m. There will be a live DJ, giveaways, a player send-off on the water taxi at 5:40 p.m., and the pirate water taxi is also giving fans rides to the game.

The team’s president and general manager, Christina Unkel, said they’re close to selling out the game, as of 10 a.m. Friday. Unkel said there will be standing room for people who show up to the game Saturday, though.

The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Riverfront Park, located at 1701 North Blvd. in Tampa, across the river from Armature Works.

The Source: This story was written with information from Tampa Bay Sun FC ahead of the team's championship game set for June 14, 2025.