TAMPA, Fla. — USF’s Yuengling Center transformed into an indoor soccer field for the Tampa Bay Strikers inaugural season.
Fans filled the seats to watch. First, the men took the field, a moment Tampa native and Strikers forward Daniel Shaw was excited for.
Shaw told Spectrum Sports 360's Katya Guillaume, after the game, “We’re excited to be here, had a lot of work in the off-season so it’s been a working progress. Excited to see the fans, see the stadium. We appreciate the support, had a great crowd out tonight and we’ll continue going forward.”
Shaw scored the team's first goal, and the Strikers with three...got the fans fired up for what is to come this season.
“I saw it before it happened leading up to the game," he said. "I’ve been wanting to do that for a while, it’s just nice to get that feeling but the most important thing is how we do as a team and getting things smoothed out moving forward.”
The men’s game ended in a 12-7 loss to the Columbus Rapids, then the women took the pitch as part of Sunday’s doubleheader.
“This is home for us," Head Coach Martin Gramatica said, "so I’m happy that our players got to play in front of a great crowd and local crowd and a lot of these players are local. They played college soccer here and youth soccer and all the families so it's great.”
Gramatica was on the edge of his seat during all four quarters of both games, he coaches both teams. He said while he would’ve loved to walk away with two wins but the experience of launching this new league here in Tampa Bay, a place he’s very familiar with, was an amazing experience.
He said as for the game, there's work that needs to be done.
“We just have to do a better job of understanding the game and communicating who’s on, who’s off and that just takes time," he said. "It’s their first game for both teams but I’m very happy that the girls fought hard and they played a great game and the guys never quit. Yes, we lost the game but we never quit, that’s the one thing I told them. I said we gotta keep our heads up and we’re gonna do that.”
On the women's side, The Rapids found the back of the net first but in the end, it was The Strikers who scored more goals.
Strikers midfielder Brianna Blethen said, “To come out here, not knowing exactly how it was gonna go and how it was gonna feel, what the teams were like, I think we came out and did great.”
Blethen, who also played soccer for South Florida for four years, said the team had a strategy from the get-go and they stuck to it and it led Tampa Bay to a 12-4 win.
With the crowd filled with young ones watching both teams play, for these players, it’s moments like this that keep them going.
Kate Hostage who led the women with four goals called this a dream come true.
“It’s a dream come true," she said. "I thought I was gonna hang up the cleats twice now so it just feels really good to kinda be inspiring that next generation and to open up an opportunity to play professionally in Tampa because I fell in love with this city, it just feels good.”
Both teams are back in action on February 4th against the Memphis Americans at the Yuengling Center.