Rowdies seek quick response in Brooklyn after first loss

The Tampa Bay Rowdies answered their first defeat of 2026 with a 2-0 victory over Brooklyn FC at Maimonides Park on Saturday, getting first-half goals from Russell Cicerone and MD Myers. The result came six days after Hartford Athletic ended Tampa Bay’s club-record 15-match unbeaten start across all competitions and gave Dominic Casciato’s side the immediate response it wanted in Brooklyn, New York.

Tampa Bay arrived at 8-1-4 with 28 points, first in the Eastern Conference and unbeaten away from Al Lang Stadium at 4-0-2. Brooklyn entered at 2-7-3 with 9 points, sitting 11th in the East and still trying to settle into its first USL Championship season. The matchup carried added weight because one more Rowdies win would have pushed the club past 30 points, a pace that would have made Tampa Bay the first USL Championship side to reach that mark in 2026.

Casciato said the early scoring helped take the edge off the night. “I think the guys came out well,” the Rowdies head coach said. “Obviously getting two goals in the first half settled any nerves we might’ve had coming into tonight.”

That was the kind of start Tampa Bay had been seeking after the Hartford loss, which halted the unbeaten run and raised a simple question about the league leaders: whether the setback would linger or sharpen the response. Cicerone and Myers made sure it did not linger for long, finishing the job before halftime and allowing the Rowdies to control the rest of the match.

The win was Tampa Bay’s ninth of the regular season and kept the Rowdies on track in a schedule that began March 7 and runs through Oct. 24. Brooklyn’s 2-3-1 home record entering the night underscored the challenge of playing at Maimonides Park, but Tampa Bay handled it with the same urgency it showed in the preview: not as a panic spot after one loss, but as the first real test of how a contender answers when its unbeaten aura is gone.