2019 Utah Royals FC season

The 2019 Utah Royals FC season marks the team's second year of existence and its second season in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of the American soccer pyramid.^[1]

Utah Royals FC

2019 season
Owner	Dell Loy Hansen
Head Coach	Laura Harvey
Stadium	Rio Tinto Stadium
NWSL	5th
Top goalscorer	Amy Rodriguez (9)
Highest home attendance	18,015 vs Washington Spirit, April 20th, 2019
Lowest home attendance	5,777 vs Sky Blue, June 15th, 2019
Average home league attendance	10,774
Home colors Away colors
← 2018 2020 →

In an effort to improve on the team's 5th place finish in 2018, the Royals signed former Spanish international and Spain's all-time leading scorer Vero Boquete for the 2019 season.^[2]

Utah encountered numerous injury problems to start the season as both Brittany Ratcliffe and Taylor Lytle suffered season ending injuries before the season began.^[3] Canadian international Diana Matheson suffered a toe injury with the Canadian National Team which would require surgery, this injury would also force her to miss the World Cup.^[4] To help deal with these absences, Utah claimed Mallory Weber off waivers from the Portland Thorns FC.^[5]

Six members of the Royals would miss games due to their participation at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O'Hara and Christen Press for the United States, Desiree Scott for Canada, Katie Bowen for New Zealand and Rachel Corsie for Scotland.^[6]

The Royals would lose another player at the end of June as defender Samantha Johnson announced her retirement from professional soccer.^[7]

Defender Kelley O'Hara suffered an ankle injury during the first USWNT victory tour match on August 3, she would miss the remainer of Utah's season due to this injury.^[8]

On August 14, Royals forward Christen Press was named NWSL Player of the Week for Week 17, this was the first time a player on the Utah Royals had received this award.^[9] Press was also named Player of the Month for August, which was also a first for the club.^[10]

The Royals were eliminated from playoff contention on September 28 after their fourth consecutive loss.^[11]

Utah defender Becky Sauerbrunn was named 2019 NWSL Defender of the Year, this was her fourth time winning the award, as she had previously won it three times while playing for FC Kansas City.^[12]

Competitions

Pre Season

Long Beach State v Utah Royals FC

March 20, 2019	Long Beach State	0–4	Utah Royals FC	Long Beach, California
19:00			Jónsdóttir 71', 72', 75' Strom-Okimito 86'	Stadium: George Allen Field

USC Trojans v Utah Royals FC

March 23, 2019	USC Trojans	v	Utah Royals FC	Long Beach, California
12:15		Report		Stadium: George Allen Field

NWSL Regular Season

Overall Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Carolina Courage (C)	24	15	4	5	54	23	+31	49	NWSL Shield
2	Chicago Red Stars	24	14	2	8	41	28	+13	44	NWSL Playoffs
3	Portland Thorns FC	24	11	7	6	40	31	+9	40
4	Reign FC	24	10	8	6	27	27	0	38
5	Washington Spirit	24	9	7	8	30	25	+5	34
6	Utah Royals FC	24	10	4	10	25	25	0	34
7	Houston Dash	24	7	5	12	21	36	−15	26
8	Sky Blue FC	24	5	5	14	20	34	−14	20
9	Orlando Pride	24	4	4	16	24	53	−29	16

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
24	34	10	10	4	25	25	0	7	4	1	15	12	+3	3	6	3	10	13	−3

Last updated: October 12, 2019
Source: NWSL Results
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Ground	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H
Result	W	W	W	L	D	W	L	W	D	L	L	D	L	L	W	W	W	D	W	L	L	L	L	W
Position[a]	4	2	1	2	2	1	3	2	2	4	5	6	7	7	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	6

Source: NWSLsoccer.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

1. UTA's position at the end of the matchweek not the match itself.

Match results

April

Utah Royals FC v Washington Spirit

April 20, 2019 1	Utah Royals FC	1–0	Washington Spirit	Sandy, Utah
7:00 pm MST	Labonta 10'	Report	Matthews  26'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 18,015

Orlando Pride v Utah Royals FC

April 27, 2019 2	Orlando Pride	0–1	Utah Royals FC	Orlando, Florida
7:00 pm MST	Kennedy  40' Pickett  90'	Report	Press 19' Bowen  87'	Stadium: Orlando City Stadium Attendance: 4,640 Referee: Jon Freemon

May

Utah Royals FC v Chicago Red Stars

May 3, 2019 3	Utah Royals FC	1–0	Chicago Red Stars	Sandy, Utah
7:00 pm MST	Maemone  66' Rodriguez 83'	Report	K.Johnson  42' Stanton  66' Kerr  80'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 16,556

Utah Royals FC v Houston Dash

May 11, 2019 4	Utah Royals FC	1–2	Houston Dash	Sandy, Utah
7:00 pm MST	Rodriguez 29' S. Johnson  44' Corsie  69'	Report	Daly 42' 50' Hanson  72' Nairn  83'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 10,138

North Carolina Courage v Utah Royals FC

May 19, 2019 5	North Carolina Courage	1–1	Utah Royals FC	Cary, North Carolina
3:00 pm MST	Eddy 78'	Report	Rodriguez 7' Rodriguez  40'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park Attendance: 4,821

Utah Royals FC v Orlando Pride

May 25, 2019 6	Utah Royals FC	2–0	Orlando Pride	Sandy, Utah
6:00 pm MST	Rodriguez 31' (pen.) Doniak 89'	Box	Weatherholt  64' Callahan  68'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 7,345 Referee: Karen Abt

June

Washington Spirit v Utah Royals FC

June 1, 2019 7	Washington Spirit	2–0	Utah Royals FC	Boyds, Maryland
7:00 pm MST	Hatch 23' Bailey 70'	Box		Stadium: Maryland SoccerPlex Referee: 4,575

Utah Royals FC v Sky Blue FC

June 15, 2019 8	Utah Royals FC	1–0	Sky Blue FC	Sandy, Utah
8:00 pm MST	Rodriguez 16' Tymrak  90+2'	Box	Skroski  84'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 5,777

Portland Thorns FC v Utah Royals FC

June 21, 2019 9	Portland Thorns FC	0–0	Utah Royals FC	Portland, Oregon
8:00 pm MST	LaBonta  56'	Box	Boureille  30'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 15,581

Utah Royals FC v Reign FC

June 28, 2019 10	Utah Royals FC	0–2	Reign FC	Sandy, Utah
8:00 pm MST	Stengel  84'	Box Report	Fishlock 30' Onumonu 35' Groom  49'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 6,910

July

Sky Blue FC v Utah Royals FC

July 12, 2019 11	Sky Blue FC	1–0	Utah Royals FC	Piscataway, New Jersey
7:00 pm MST	James  42' Flores  77' Pierre-Louis  88' Hoy 90+2'	Report		Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 1,842

Utah Royals FC v Portland Thorns FC

July 19, 2019 12	Utah Royals FC	2–2	Portland Thorns FC	Sandy, Utah
8:00 pm MST	Press 43' Corsie 90'	Report	Sinclair 9' Foord  83' Sauerbrunn 87' (o.g)	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 15,931

Utah Royals FC v North Carolina Courage

July 27, 2019 13	Utah Royals FC	1–2	North Carolina Courage	Sandy, Utah
8:00 pm MST	Press 13'	Report	Hamilton 34' McDonald 54'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 10,545

August

Chicago Red Stars v Utah Royals FC

August 3, 2019 14	Chicago Red Stars	2–0	Utah Royals FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7:00 pm MST	Kerr 5' Elby 85'	Report	Jónsdóttir  74'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 4,335

Utah Royals FC v Sky Blue FC

August 7, 2019 15	Utah Royals FC	3–0	Sky Blue FC	Sandy, Utah
8:00 pm MST	Press 27', 29' Rodriguez 28'	Report	Hoy  60' Wright  60'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 7,715

Reign FC v Utah Royals FC

August 11, 2019 16	Reign FC	1–3	Utah Royals FC	Tacoma, Washington
7:00 pm MST	Long  14' Groom 41' Celia  68'	Report	Stengel 3' LaBonta 59' Rodriguez 67' Weber  81'	Stadium: Cheney Stadium Attendance: 5,939

Orlando Pride v Utah Royals FC

August 17, 2019 17	Orlando Pride	0–2	Utah Royals FC	Orlando, Florida
7:00 pm MST	Edmonds  63'	Report	Press 60' Rodriguez 77'	Stadium: Orlando City Stadium Attendance: 5,279

Washington Spirit v Utah Royals FC

August 21, 2019 18	Washington Spirit	0–0	Utah Royals FC	Boyds, Maryland
7:00 pm MST	Kellond-Knight  5'	Report	Press  50'	Stadium: Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 2,430

September

Utah Royals FC v Portland Thorns FC

September 6, 2019 19	Utah Royals FC	1–0	Portland Thorns FC	Sandy, Utah
7:30 pm MST	Sauerbrunn 36' Corsie  65' Rodriguez  78'	Report	Sonnett  61'  77' Horan  80'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 10,897

Houston Dash v Utah Royals FC

September 13, 2019 20	Houston Dash	2–1	Utah Royals FC	Houston, Texas
7:00 pm MST	Huerta 27', 62' Nairn  87'	Report	Jónsdóttir 75'	Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 4,538

Utah Royals FC v North Carolina Courage

September 21, 2019 21	Utah Royals FC	0–3	North Carolina Courage	Sandy, Utah
7:00 pm MST		Report	Mewis 30' (pen.) O'Sullivan  35' Hinkle 65' Debinha 70'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 9,946

Reign FC v Utah Royals FC

September 25, 2019 22	Reign FC	2–1	Utah Royals FC	Tacoma, Washington
7:00 pm MST	Balcer 40' McNabb  77' Taylor 86'	Box Report	Stengel 67'	Stadium: Cheney Stadium Attendance: 5,015
Note: Game was rescheduled from September 18th due to unplayable field conditions

Chicago Red Stars v Utah Royals FC

September 28, 2019 23	Chicago Red Stars	2–1	Utah Royals FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
7:00 pm MST	DiBernardo 40' Short  67' Nagasato 85'	Report	Press 42'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 4,839

October

Utah Royals FC v Houston Dash

October 12, 2019 24	Utah Royals FC	2-1	Houston Dash	Sandy, Utah
7:30 pm MST	Press 3' Rodriguez 23' Weber  70'	Report	Schmidt  26' Romero  29' Daly  70' Mewis 78'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 9,513

Stats

As of October 12, 2019

Goals Rank Player Nation Goals 1 Amy Rodriguez 9 2 Christen Press 8 3 Lo'eau LaBonta 2 Katie Stengel 5 Makenzy Doniak 1 Rachel Corsie Becky Sauerbrunn Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir

Assists Rank Player Nation Assists 1 Vero Boquete 6 2 Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir 4 3 Lo'eau LaBonta 2 Christen Press 5 Michelle Maemone 1 Kelley O'Hara Mallory Weber Erika Tymrak Katie Stengel

Shutouts Rank Player Nation Shutouts 1 Nicole Barnhart 10

Honors and awards

As of October 24, 2019.

NWSL awards

Best XI

Player	Position	Ref
Becky Sauerbrunn	Defender	[13]
Christen Press	Forward	[13]

Second XI

Player	Position	Ref
Kelley O'Hara	Defender	[13]

NWSL Monthly Awards

NWSL Player of the Month

Month	Result	Player	Ref.
August	Won	Christen Press	[10]

NWSL Team of the Month

Month	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Ref
April		Becky Sauerbrunn		Christen Press	[14]
May		Rachel Corsie	Vero Boquete	Amy Rodriguez	[15]
June				Amy Rodriguez	[16]
August			Lo'eau LaBonta	Christen Press Amy Rodriguez	[17]

NWSL Weekly Awards

NWSL Player of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
17	Won	Christen Press	[18]

NWSL Goal of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
2	Nominated	Lo'Eau LaBonta	[19]
3	Nominated	Christen Press	[20]
4	Nominated	Amy Rodriguez	[21]
5	Nominated	Amy Rodriguez	[22]
6	Nominated	Amy Rodriguez	[23]
7	Nominated	Makenzy Doniak	[24]
9	Won	Amy Rodriguez	[25][26]
14	Won	Christen Press	[27]
15	Won	Christen Press	[28]
17	Won	Amy Rodriguez	[29]
18	Won	Christen Press	[30]
21	Won	Becky Sauerbrunn	[31]
25	Nominated	Amy Rodriguez	[30]

NWSL Save of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
3	Nominated	Nicole Barnhart	[32]
4	Nominated	Nicole Barnhart	[33]
7	Nominated	Nicole Barnhart	[34]
10	Nominated	Nicole Barnhart	[35]
13	Nominated	Nicole Barnhart	[36]
16	Nominated	Nicole Barnhart	[37]
21	Won	Nicole Barnhart	[38]
24	Nominated	Nicole Barnhart	[39]

Club

Roster

• Age calculated as of the start of the 2019 season.

As of August 5, 2019^{[2][40][41][42]}

No.	Name	Nationality	Positions	Date of birth (age)	Signed from	Year with club (year signed)
1	Abby Smith	United States	GK	(1993-10-04)October 4, 1993 (aged 25)	Boston Breakers	2 (2018)
2	Rachel Corsie	Scotland	DF	(1989-08-17)August 17, 1989 (aged 29)	Seattle Reign	2 (2018)
3	Rebecca Moros	United States	DF	(1985-05-06)May 6, 1985 (aged 33)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
4	Becky Sauerbrunn	United States	DF	(1985-06-06)June 6, 1985 (aged 33)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
5	Kelley O'Hara	United States	DF	(1988-08-04)August 4, 1988 (aged 30)	Sky Blue FC	2 (2018)
6	Katie Bowen	New Zealand	DF	(1994-04-15)April 15, 1994 (aged 24)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
7	Mandy Laddish	United States	MF	(1992-05-13)May 13, 1992 (aged 26)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
8	Amy Rodriguez	United States	FW	(1987-02-17)February 17, 1987 (aged 32)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
9	Lo'eau LaBonta	United States	MF	(1993-03-18)March 18, 1993 (aged 26)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
10	Diana Matheson	Canada	MF	(1984-04-06)April 6, 1984 (aged 35)	Seattle Reign FC	2 (2018)
11	Desiree Scott	Canada	MF	(1987-07-31)July 31, 1987 (aged 31)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
12	Taylor Lytle	United States	MF	(1989-03-31)March 31, 1989 (aged 30)	Sky Blue FC	2 (2018)
13	Makenzy Doniak	United States	FW	(1994-02-25)February 25, 1994 (aged 25)	North Carolina Courage	2 (2018)
14	Gaby Vincent	United States	DF	(1997-12-07)December 7, 1997 (aged 21)	University of Louisville	1 (2019)
15	Erika Tymrak	United States	MF	(1991-08-07)August 7, 1991 (aged 27)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
17	Sydney Miramontez	United States	DF	(1994-10-11)October 11, 1994 (aged 24)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
18	Nicole Barnhart	United States	GK	(1981-10-10)October 10, 1981 (aged 37)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
19	Michelle Maemone	United States	DF	(1997-03-18)March 18, 1997 (aged 22)	Pepperdine University	1 (2019)
20	Mallory Weber	United States	FW	(1994-04-04)April 4, 1994 (aged 25)	Portland Thorns FC	1 (2019)
21	Verónica Boquete	Spain	FW	(1987-04-09)April 9, 1987 (aged 32)	Beijing BG Phoenix	1 (2019)
22	Madeline Nolf	United States	DF	(1996-03-29)March 29, 1996 (aged 23)	Penn State University	1 (2019)
23	Christen Press	United States	FW	(1988-12-29)December 29, 1988 (aged 30)	Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC	2 (2018)
24	Katie Stengel	United States	FW	(1992-02-29)February 29, 1992 (aged 27)	Boston Breakers	2 (2018)
25	Brittany Ratcliffe	United States	FW	(1994-02-07)February 7, 1994 (aged 25)	FC Kansas City	2 (2018)
42	Raisa Strom-Okimoto	United States	FW		University of Hawaii	1 (2019)
66	Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir	Iceland	MF	(1988-09-28)September 28, 1988 (aged 30)	Vålerenga	2 (2018)
	Melissa Lowder	United States	GK		Santa Clara University	1 (2019)

Player Transactions

As of August 3, 2019^[2]

Transfers In

Player	Position	Previous Club	Fees/Notes	Date
Verónica Boquete	MF	Beijing BG Phoenix	Signed [2]	01/04/19
Gaby Vincent	DF	University of Louisville	Signed [43]	04/17/19
Mallory Weber	FW	Portland Thorns FC	Acquired off the NWSL Waiver Wire [5]	05/13/19
Raisa Strom-Okimoto	DF	University of Hawaii	Signed [44]	07/26/19
Melissa Lowder	GK	Santa Clara University	Signed [44]	07/26/19

Transfers Out

Player	Position	Next Club	Fees/Notes	Date
Alex Arlitt	DF	unattached	option declined	10/01/18
Katrina Gorry	MF	Brisbane Roar[45]	option declined	10/01/18
Elise Thorsnes	FW	LSK Kvinner[46]	option declined	10/01/18
Samantha Johnson	DF	retired[7]		06/28/19

2019 NWSL College Draft

Source: National Women's Soccer League^[47]

Round	Pick	Nat.	Player	Pos.	Previous Team
Round 3	23		Michelle Maemone	D	Pepperdine
Round 3	26		Madeline Nolf	D	Penn State
Round 4	32		Alexandra Kimball	M	North Carolina