After a strong first regular season in the USL Super League, Dallas Trinity exited the playoffs after a semifinal loss to the eventual champions, Tampa Bay Sun. By all measures, it was a successful season. Despite a host of injuries to key players and a massive mid-season departure of first-half MVP Sam Meza, the team qualified for the playoffs, finishing third in the league standings. However, just weeks after the season’s conclusion, the club parted ways with head coach Pauline MacDonald, indicating the finish simply wasn’t good enough.

One of the people who made that decision was Dallas Trinity GM and current interim manager, Chris Petrucelli. He described the decision as the result of an end-of-season analysis. “We did a thorough review at the end of the season of all areas of the club. That was an area that there was a lot of discussion about and there was a consensus. We have high ambition and we want to get better and we felt we needed to take that step to continue to progress.” The move surprised many as MacDonald was seen as a big signing for the league when it was announced.

McDonald’s chances of a better finish were certainly hampered by injuries to the squad, which Petrucelli admitted in his discussion of last season. “We had matches were we had 11 and 12 players out with injury,” but one stood out as more significant than the rest. “I think the big one was Lexi Missimo. When Sam Meza left in December, we had a pretty good replacement in Lexi but then she got hurt. I think you could see, that’s when our team went into a little bit of a tailspin.”

But the interim head coach wasn’t all doom and gloom. He describes the first Trinity season as “exciting” and “very successful both on and off the field.” He also highlighted a developing home field advantage in the Cotton Bowl. “There’s a great energy in the stadium…the club is doing a great job at building an environment that’s exciting and motivates people to come see it.” Now he’s focused on building out a roster for Trinity’s sophomore season to improve on year one. “We’re signing players and hoping to finish the roster up real quick. We should be done in the next week to ten days.” The club heads into preseason camp on July 14th.

While the Chris is focused on readying his team for year two in the Super League, the team also just announced a big friendly coming up on October 18, when Trinity will host LigaMX Femenil two-time champion Club America. The match is being billed as the State Fair Clásico and will be held during the annual Texas State Fair at the Cotton Bowl Stadium. It’s the second big-name friendly for the USL Super League club, after FC Barcelona visited last year. “On the technical side, we get to be challenged on the field by great players, it’s a real learning experience for us when we take on these kinds of teams,” said Petrucelli when asked about the benefits of these types of matches. “For the club, it does a lot in getting our name out there. We’re brand new and we’ve got to introduce the world to our team.”

With the absence of a permanent head coach, Petrucelli is currently wearing two hats and that’s not something he wants to do for long. “We want to fill the position as quickly as we can, but we aren’t desperate,” he responded when asked about the search for a new head coach. “We’re going to be deliberate and cautious to make sure we get the right person.”

With the preseason for the second year of the USL Super League just around the corner, there’s plenty for Petrucelli and the Trinity organization to be focused on. It’s clear that the club has high expectations for success and a second finish outside of the league final isn’t part of the plan. As the roster is announced and a new head coach is chosen, we’ll see if the winning formula can be assembled for year two.

- Dan Vaughn