REAL MONARCHS SLC INTERIM HEAD COACH JAMISON OLAVE NAMED USL CHAMPIONSHIP COACH OF THE MONTH
Led Side to Top-Four Finish in West with Three Wins in Last Four Games of Regular Season
HERRIMAN, Utah
(Thursday, October 31, 2019) –
Real Monarchs SLC
Interim Head Coach
Jamison Olave
has been voted the USL Championship’s
Coach of the Month
for October as his side won three of its last four contests in the regular season to clinch a top-four finish in the Western Conference for the third consecutive year.
The Monarchs went 3-0-1 over the final month of the regular season, becoming the first team to defeat Phoenix Rising FC at Casino Arizona Field this Championship campaign while also notching key home victories against Orange County SC and Sacramento Republic FC that earned Real 11 home wins in the campaign.
“It feels really good to receive the Coach of the Month award,” Olave said. “The real credit should go to the players and our whole staff for all the hard work and dedication they’ve put in over the last month to get us to this point. The players have done what we’ve asked of them and they’ve been rewarded with the results. But the job isn’t done yet and we have to keep the same mentality because there’s more work to do. We’re going into the match in Phoenix looking for the result we want because we want to win the Cup.”
Olave took the reins on the sidelines for the Monarchs on July 1 after the resignation of former Head Coach Martin Vasquez and led the side to a 10-4-3 record with a +16-goal differential over the second half of the regular season. This past Saturday, Real claimed its first victory in the USL Championship Playoffs in club history, a 6-2 win against Orange County SC, and is now preparing for a contest with No. 1 seed Phoenix Rising FC in the Western Conference Semifinals on Friday night.
Olave received 48 percent of the vote to take the award, with Loudoun United FC’s Ryan Martin finishing second on 29 percent after his side took victory in its final four games of the regular season, defeating Eastern Conference playoff sides the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Charleston Battery and New York Red Bulls II.
The USL Championship’s Coach of the Month award is voted upon by the USL Championship National Media Panel and the USL Championship Technical Committee, with each group responsible for 50 percent of the overall vote.
Real Monarchs SLC travels to Phoenix Rising FC for the Western Conference Semifinal on Friday, November 1 at 8:30p MT. Friday’s winner will advance to the Western Conference Final and will host either El Paso Locomotive FC or Sacramento Republic FC who feature on the opposite side of the bracket.
