Washington Spirit recently announced that Emma Gaines-Ramos will play the 25/26 season on loan at Tampa Bay Sun FC in the Gainbridge Super League (USL Super League). In January, the Spirit signed the San Diego State forward to a two year contract with club options in 2027 & 2028. At the time of her signing, Gaines-Ramos was recovering from a knee injury and spent the 2025 season on the season ending injury (SEI) list, as expected.

However, with this move she has been removed from the SEI list and has also been seen in trainings with the Spirit, suggesting she’s close to on-pitch action once again. The Spirit have an impressive track record with scouting and signing college talents, so there’s a lot of anticipation to see what Gaines-Ramos can achieve at the professional level—especially since she isn’t coming from one of the well-known powerhouses in women’s college soccer.

The college landscape is so vast and varied that it’s hard to contextualize datasets from conference to conference, yet alone player to player. But in terms of what stands out from the compilation of stats below, it is certainly her outrageous 11.0 dribbles per 90, with a near 61% success rate. That is a ton of dribbles attempted per game, along with a success rate situated comfortably in her favor.

Though it’s an NWSL comparison so not quite 1:1, one of the best and most frequent dribblers in the league has been Rosemonde Kouassi. So far this season (in ~590 minutes) she’s attempting 7.54 dribblers per 90 and has a 49% success rate—and we all know how dangerous she can be. Also, as noted in the Tweet above, Gaines-Ramos’ pass completion rate in the penalty area could use some work. It’s the most difficult space to complete passes, so while the percentage is low it’s not far from being acceptable, or, given the rate at which she dribbles by defenders, quite useful. [Kouassi stats courtesy of FBref]

While Gaines-Ramos’ Washington Spirit debut will have to wait, she is an intriguing player. The Spirit also have a decent track record with successful loans to the Super League, with Tamara Bolt, Shadia Nankya, and Deborah Abiodun spending last season with Dallas Trinity FC. Tampa Bay is a new team to develop a relationship with the Spirit, though, and likely because they finished second on the table last season (one spot above Dallas Trinity) and won the championship. If you want to setup young players for success, it’s all about the environment and opportunity, so this feels like a solid move by all parties involved.

The Gainbridge Super League season follows the European calendar, so will kickoff their second season of play August 23rd. Luckily for Spirit fans eager to see Gaines-Ramos, Tampa Bay Sun FC will be playing in the first time slot, 7pm. All games will be available on Peacock. You may also want to tune in September 23rd, when Tampa Bay face Spokane Zephyr FC, who recently announced the signing of former Washington Spirit forward Lena Silano.

Image of Gaines-Ramos courtesy of Washington Spirit.