ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies capped off the 2026 USL Championship regular season campaign on a high note with a 2-0 victory over in-state rivals Sporting JAX on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium.
There was no visible hangover from last week’s dramatic win over Detroit City FC to clinch the 2026 USL Championship Players’ Shield as the top team in the regular season. The Rowdies took care of business with a professional performance against Jacksonville and now head into the playoffs on a three-match winning streak as the only team to surpass 60 points in the season this year.
“I think everyone’s so hungry and we know that it’s a long regular season,” said Rowdies Captain Lewis Hilton. “For me, that’s the most important, because over 30 games we’ve shown we’re the best team. But in this country, a lot of the emphasis is on the playoffs and that’s seen as the big trophy and we’ve got four games now. We’re desperate to go and win that.”
Forward Karsen Henderlong got the scoring started just before the half hour mark. Receiving a pass into the box from Hilton, Henderlong quickly turned toward goal and fired a shot that glanced off the defender’s foot on its way toward the far post, bouncing off the woodwork before nestling into the goal. The tally marked Henderlong’s second goal of the regular season and his fourth across all competitions.
Midfielder Marco Micaletto doubled Tampa Bay’s advantage late in the contest. Hilton provided the service once again, delivering a cross in the 82nd minute from the left flank into the box. Micaletto met Hilton’s delivery perfectly, deftly redirecting a header straight into the top right corner for his seventh goal of the campaign.
“Maybe from the outside looking in, you might have said this is a bit of nothing game,” said Micaletto. “…I think that all year, we’ve never played for a result. Genuinely, we’ve never gone into any game, no matter what point of the year it is, just looking for a result. I felt like it was 11 boys kind of just all putting their stakes in the ground to say this is why I need to play next week. Because I’m going to do good this week. Everyone’s motivated like that. And the whole Monday through Friday, everyone’s fighting for it.”
The Rowdies limited the visitors to only one shot on target all night, which goalkeeper Austin Pack managed to keep from hitting the back of the net. Pack and his teammates made history with Saturday’s shutout, recording the 16th clean sheet of the campaign to set a new club record for shutouts in a single season. This year’s squad surpassed the previous record of 15 shutouts from 2021, when the Rowdies last claimed the Players’ Shield.
“(Tonight) was a really professional performance and I think we can be really proud of the record,” said Rowdies Head Coach Dominic Casciato. “(Goalkeeper Coach Stuart Dobson) reminded me of the record before tonight, so a huge credit to him. Obviously, Jahmali (Waite) has played most of the games, but then Austin (Pack) has been brilliant every time he’s played. He’s been outstanding. He was outstanding again tonight. I think it really speaks to the strength of the group in terms of the commitment to defend, the commitment to work for the team, and we’ve seen that from everybody.”
As the top overall seed in the playoffs, the Rowdies are locked in for a matchup with the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed Miami FC this coming Friday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Rowdies knocked off Miami in their first two meetings this year, but Miami got the better of the Rowdies in a 2-1 result back on October 3.
“I think playoff games are always emotional,” said Casciato. “I think the team that’s able to control emotion is the one that’s going to have more control. So obviously when (Miami) beat us a few weeks ago, that hurt. But then we responded in a really good way and went on to win the league. So now we’re up in the playoffs. It’s an opportunity to show them that when they beat us last time, it was a blip and show how much we learned.”
Scoring Summary
TBR – Henderlong (Hilton), 29’
TBR – Micaletto (Hilton), 82’
Caution Summary
JAX – Roberts (Yellow Card), 4’
TBR – Micaletto (Yellow Card), 26’
TBR – Vivi (Yellow Card), 31’
JAX – Al-Qaq (Yellow Card), 34’
JAX – Rossiter (Yellow Card), 45’
JAX – Alvarado (Yellow Card), 45+4’
JAX – Gomez (Yellow Card), 59’
TBR – Perez (Yellow Card), 73’
JAX – Pedder (Yellow Card), 75’
TBR – Wye (Yellow Card), 89’
Stats Summary: TBR / JAX
Shots: 18 / 5
Shots on Goal: 8 / 1
Saves: 1 / 6
Corner Kicks: 7 / 3
Fouls Conceded: 13 / 10
Offside: 0 / 1
Possession: 61.1 / 38.9
Lineups
TBR: Pack, Rodriguez, Schaefer, Archer (Dolabella, 46’), Ostrem (Nigro, 63’), Wyke, Hilton, Conway, Micaletto, Vivi (Perez, 63’), Henderlong
TBR Bench: Waite, Dossantos, Nigro, Cruz, Dolabella, Cicerone, Perez, Myers
JAX: McGuire, Gomez (Wilson, 71’), Edwards, Alvarado, Rito, Sommersall, (Kuzain, 72’) Mota, Roberts (Sadlier, 71’), Pedder, Al-Qaq (Jaaskelainen, 55’), Luckhurst (Rossiter, 44’)
JAX Bench: Casas, Wilson, Ackwei, Rossiter, Kuzain, Jaaskelainen, Sadlier
