DC Power FC defender Sydney Cummings has been a mainstay in the lineup since she arrived at the club in June 2025. Her ironwoman play and consistent ability to serve as a fortress in the back and a leader for her team has helped DC to second in the USL Super League table midway through the 2026 sprint season. But while there is still work left to do to get DC Power to the playoffs for the first time in their history, Cummings says that the team is in a good spot.

“I would say overall vibes [are] pretty high,” Cummings said in an interview with The District Press. “I think for us to go into the second half of the condensed season, it’s really just about remaining as consistent as possible so that we don’t have the similar things that happen in the 1st half of the season when you have a season that’s short. [DC Power head coach] Omid [Namazi] says it all the time: ‘Every game is a playoff game.’ So that’s the mentality of how we’re treating every single match. All in all, I think we’re happy with where we are, but we’re not satisfied.”

Part of that desire to get better includes not taking any matches for granted, and they have a targeted point of emphasis on not dropping points at home. That’s important for a club that is not only fighting for the playoffs, but would host a semifinal had the playoffs started today.

“Obviously, this is a place where we struggled last year and have continued to struggle this year. I don’t think that’s a secret,” Cummings said of the team’s struggles to get wins at Audi Field. “I think the biggest thing for us that we’ve tried to do is try to mimic the same routine that we have for away games. So we’ve kind of adjusted some things as a whole. to try to kind of like put everybody in the same mentality of when we’re in away games.”

Despite their home form, DC Power has been one of the best teams in the league on the road. And, Sydney Cummings has been the model of consistency on defense for the club, with her presence being continuous as well as tenacious. Cummings played every minute of the 2025-26 season for DC Power, and she has started every match this season and played all but 5 minutes this season, only subbing off in the 85th minute in the team’s second match of the season against Brooklyn FC. But what really stands out is her voice on the field, serving as an audible leader that normally dons the captain’s armband whenever team captain Susanna Fitch is not in the lineup.

“I have had some fabulous coaches that have really taken the time, from the time I was about 14, to really mold me into the player and leader that I ultimately turned into. And I think so much just is attributed to them,” Cummings said about the mentorship that molded her game. “Just in my family, I have 2 older brothers, and my parents raised me to be a very strong, independent individual. And so I think in every facet of my life, that’s kind of how people have accepted me to be and encouraged me to be. And it’s not everyone’s cup of tea and also understanding that’s okay.  And for me, [it’s] also understanding not everybody’s going to be able to receive information how I want to give information. So, I would say that was the turning point of my leadership: understanding that everyone that’s receiving things are different, and so sometimes you have to cater to that individual instead of expecting them to cater to you. But I would really just say I’ve been really, really lucky to have people that have cared about me throughout my entire playing career.”

In preparing for the second half of the season, Cummings said the team is working on the details in practice.

“[Once] you’ve played everybody once, you’ve kind of gotten a feel for how they are,” Cummings said. “Film is so important. So we sit through a decent amount of film and preparation for what’s to come. We had a bye this week…so the big thing has really been getting touches, getting comfortable, building chemistry between people, but like in the back of your head, you know we’re playing [Sporting Jacksonville] next.”

While Sporting Jacksonville, who is tied with DC Power in the USL Super League standings on 11 points, is the next opponent, the goal is the playoffs with an eye on winning the championship. It’s what all the days on the training field are meant to build towards, and the team is hoping it can pay off at the end of the season.

“Yeah, I mean [making the playoffs] is everything, right? Like last year when Omid [Namazi] came in and it was a very new team, we talked a lot about the goal was to make the playoffs,” Cummings stated firmly of the team’s goals. And even though we fell short, the language this year isn’t even that. The goal is this year we’re competing for a championship. So I think this is our mentality. This is kind of everything that we dream for and you put your body on the line for constantly every day. And I think for us, it’s kind of, for a lot of people, for different reasons, but I think it would just feel like it’s worth it…So I think specifically with this group of people that have gotten really, really close in a short amount of time, it just means so much for us.”

“And we are a very competitive group, so there is that aspect of it too, where there are a lot of times where we felt like people wrote us off or we’re seen as underdogs when we haven’t been. So I think it’s like a mentality piece too, and…wanting to prove ourselves a little bit that you can’t keep writing us off and we are a playoff team.”

DC Power hopes to take yet another step towards that goal when they travel to take on Sporting Jacksonville on Friday. Most fans expect #6 to be inked into the starting lineup once again. Sydney Cummings is treating it as another chance to lead her team towards the goals they want to meet.