In game two of their three-game road trip, Sporting JAX turned their meeting with Brooklyn FC into an exciting, nail-biting draw.

Sporting Club Jacksonville (2-2-2) has gone undefeated away from home in their inaugural season, and they brought that momentum into this first meeting with Brooklyn.

“It (undefeated away from home) was something that we were aware of in the back of our minds,” Sophia Boman, midfielder and first scorer of the game, said. “It didn’t change the way we played or how we prepared, but we definitely knew about it.”

Boman started the scoring early in the first half to put Sporting JAX on top, but the nailbiting action started in the last 20 minutes of the game. 

In the 76th minute, Paige Kenton scored her second goal of the season. This one, put Sporting JAX in the lead. “It was pretty cool,” Kenton said. “I knew that we had a really good opportunity in front of us with that corner kick, and I knew that we had to take it.”

Brooklyn FC battled back with two quick goals in the closing stretch, but Baylee DeSmit, making just her second appearance for Sporting JAX, wasn’t finished.

With four minutes of stoppage time on the clock, DeSmit buried her first professional goal, leveling the match and securing a hard-fought point on the road.

“It’s just a matter of executing in the right moments,” head coach Stacey Balaam says. “Even on those set pieces. It’s something that we were able to do with that second goal – scoring on that set piece.”

The draw gives Sporting JAX another valuable result away from home as they prepare to face DC Power on Tuesday, October 14, at 7 p.m.