Carolina Ascent FC clinched its second consecutive playoff berth in the Gainbridge Super League on Sunday, winning 1-0 at Dallas Trinity FC on an 89th-minute header from Rylee Baisden.
The win makes Carolina the third club in the nine-team league to lock in a postseason spot, after Sporting Jax and Lexington SC. It extends the team's unbeaten run to eight matches.
The goal came late and came through the middle. Riley Parker sent a through ball into the channel. Addisyn Merrick picked it up on the run and put a cross into the box. Baisden finished it with a header. The clock read 89 minutes. Dallas Trinity had dominated the run of play — 60 percent possession, 24 shots to Ascent's 8, seven on target to two — and controlled almost every zone except the one that mattered.
In goal for Carolina, Sydney Martinez made seven saves for her 10th career clean sheet in Super League play. Martinez has settled into the starting role over the course of this unbeaten run — eight matches without a loss, five clean sheets on the season — one of the quieter structural developments of Carolina's second professional campaign.
The result puts Carolina at 42 points on 12 wins, 6 draws, and 7 losses in 25 matches, leaving the club third in a tightening table behind Sporting Jax and Lexington SC. Three matches remain on the regular-season schedule — two at home, one away — with the finale on May 16 against Sporting Jax at American Legion Memorial Stadium.
A quieter path to the playoffs
Carolina is in its second competitive season. The club played its inaugural Gainbridge Super League schedule in 2024–25, finishing the regular season atop the table and taking home the league's first Players' Shield. The 2025–26 campaign has been less straightforward. A three-match losing streak in February ended with a 2-0 home win over Dallas Trinity on February 21 — the same opponent Carolina beat again on Sunday. Between those two Dallas wins, the club has gone on an eight-match unbeaten run, including a 2-1 road win at Tampa Bay Sun FC on April 5 and a 1-0 home win over Lexington SC on April 11.
The Gainbridge Super League — operated by United Soccer League and separate from the NWSL — launched in 2024 and is now running a nine-team second season. Sporting Jax, the league's newest expansion club, sits first on 47 points with 24 matches played. Lexington SC is on 43 points in 24 matches. Carolina is a point behind Lexington with one more match played. Dallas Trinity, despite Sunday's stat line, is fourth on 32 points.
What the numbers show
Carolina's offense has been efficient rather than prolific. The team has scored 31 goals and conceded 25 — a goal differential of plus-6 that sits near the median of the table. The wins have come in narrow margins: all three Carolina victories in April have been by a single goal. Sunday's 1-0 was consistent with the pattern — a side that defends deep when it has to, concedes shot volume without conceding the scoreboard, and finds just enough in the attacking third to make one moment matter.
That moment on Sunday was built on an assist chain. Parker's through ball split Dallas and set Merrick into space. Merrick's service across the face of the goal was the kind of cross defenders are coached to defend and attackers are coached to attack. Baisden got on the end of it.
The stadium and the market
Carolina Ascent FC plays at American Legion Memorial Stadium, the 10,500-seat venue at 7th Street and Charlottetowne Avenue in the Elizabeth neighborhood. The stadium was built between 1934 and 1936 as a Works Progress Administration project and named for local soldiers who fell in World War I. It was renovated between 2019 and 2021 at a final cost of roughly $40.5 million, and is owned by the City of Charlotte and operated by Mecklenburg County. Its open-ended "U" shape was preserved in the renovation, giving the venue an unusual profile among modern professional soccer grounds.
The ownership group includes former Nucor Corporation CEO Dan DiMicco (40%), Charlotte Independence founder Jim McPhilliamy and Kelly McPhilliamy as managing partners (35%), and Empower HER Fund, LLC (25%), a coalition of 11 Charlotte-area women business and civic leaders with managing member Maryann Bruce. Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova joined the group as a minority investor in 2025. The club has publicly described the ownership trajectory as moving toward "majority female ownership, with Empower HER Fund as the principal owner."
Captain Jill Aguilera, a Puerto Rico international playing an attacking-fullback role, won both Defender of the Year and Golden Playmaker honors in 2024–25 and led the league in assists. Tyler Lussi, a ten-year professional whose career includes the Portland Thorns, Angel City FC, and three seasons at the North Carolina Courage, signed with Carolina in February for her first Super League campaign. On Sunday, however, it was Baisden's name on the scoresheet and Martinez's name in the save column.
What's next
Carolina returns home Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. match against Tampa Bay Sun FC at American Legion Memorial Stadium. The regular season closes May 16 at home against Sporting Jax.
Three matches remain. The playoff bracket will be set by the final table. Carolina is already in it.