SANDY, Utah (Friday, May 8, 2024) Utah Royals (1-6-1, 4 pts, 14th NWSL) succumbed to its sixth defeat of the season, and a sixth straight game without a win, in the club’s NWSL campaign in a 2-0 away defeat to San Diego Wave (3-3-1, 10 pts, 8th NWSL) at Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday, May 8th, 2024.
Despite starting the slightly weaker of both sides, the Royals gradually grew into the contest as the game went on, dominating possession during important moments of the match with inventive passes and intelligent passing angles. The Wave, for their part, began the game the slightly better of both sides, with their high pressing in particular proving especially difficult for the Royals to play out of.
For all its gradual overall positive start, chances and goals seemed hard to come by for the Royals, and the team was made to rue its lack of inventiveness in the final third late in the first half, conceding a penalty in the 35th minute. Captain Paige Monaghan was judged to have handled the ball in the penalty area in her attempt to block a shot, the team’s sixth penalty concession of the season. Attacker Jaedyn Shaw stepped up as the designated penalty taker for The Wave and she made no mistake from the spot, sending Mandy Haught the wrong way and rifling an effort to the right to establish a lead for the hosts.
URFC was lucky not to have gone two behind a few minutes after conceding the first when Maria Morales rose highest close to the near post to connect to a cross from Kyra Carusa, but the attacker failed to keep her header down, blazing her effort way over.
Chances continued to seem hard to come by for URFC and despite enjoying healthy spells of dominance and possession in periods throughout the first half the team was unable to create clear-cut goal scoring opportunities and went into the break a goal behind.
The Royals continued its periods of game state dominance in the second half as the team continued its desperate search for an equalizer. URFC’s best chance of the half, and indeed the whole game, came in the 58th minute through a brilliant attacking sequence. A ball released down the right flank found Monaghan who drove down the right byline before swinging in a whipped cross into the box which was met by the head of Hannah Betfort, but the striker failed to keep her header down, and as the home support held its collective breath, ball cannoned right off the crossbar and back into play, to spare the hosts blushes.
Despite a significantly improved second half performance, the Royals still seemed to lack the killer instinct it required in front of goal in its search for parity and the team’s inefficiencies in the final third were ultimately punished by a second San Diego Wave goal late in the half. In the 77th minute, having won possession deep in the Royals half, Shaw received the ball and played a sublime through ball which cut right through the heart of the Royals defense to find Makenzy Doniak running through on goal who in turn placed a low left footed effort beyond the reach of Haught to double the hosts’ advantage and strengthen their grip on the contest.
URFC pressed on for a consolation late in the game but was unable to recover from the setback of a second concession, and consequently succumbed to a difficult away defeat.
The loss puts the early 2024 Utah Royals season record at 1-6-1. Next up for the Royals is an away clash against Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, May 12th, at SeatGeek stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30 PM MT. The Royals return to America First Field on May 25th against Kansas City Current at 8 PM, MT. Tickets can be found at https://www.rsl.com/utahroyals/tickets/ .
UTA 0 : 2 SD
GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:
SD: Jaedyn Shaw (Penalty) 35’: Jaedyn Shaw stepped up as the designated penalty taker for The Wave in the 35th minute and made no mistake from the spot, sending Mandy Haught the wrong way and rifling a strike into the top right corner.
SD: Makenzy Doniak (Jaedyn Shaw) 77’: Jaedyn Shaw received the ball and played a sublime through ball which cut right through the heart of the Royals defense to find Makenzy Doniak running through on goal who in turn placed a low left footed effort beyond the reach of Haught to double the hosts’ advantage.
LINEUPS:
Utah Royals FC (4-3-3): Mandy Haught; Olivia Griffitts, Kate Del Fava, Lauren Flynn, Madison Pogarch (F. Tagliaferri, 82’); Mikayla Cluff (M. Vasconcelos, 45’), Amandine Henry, Dana Foederer (E. Gray, 89’); Paige Monaghan (Zoe Burns, 83’), Ally Sentnor, Hannah Betfort (Cameron Tucker, 68’)
Subs not used: Addisyn Merrick, Agnes Nyberg, Cristina Roque, Brecken Mozingo
San Diego Wave (4-2-3-1): Kailen Sheridan; Ann Enge, Christen Westphal, Kennedy Wesley, Hanna Lundkvist; Kimmi Ascanio (E. Van Egmond, 45’), Danielle Colaprico; Maria Sanchez Morales (M. Doniak, 69’), Jaedyn Shaw (Savannah Mccaskill, 86’), Mya Jones (E. Bennett, 62’), Kyra Carusa (A. Ali, 62’)
Subs not used: Elizabeth Beall, Morgan Messner, Kaitlyn Torpey
Stats Summary: UTA / SD
Possession: 56% / 44%
Shots: 9 / 9
Shots on Goal: 4 / 5
Saves: 1 / 1
Corner Kicks: 4 / 1
Fouls: 14 / 6
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
UTA: P. Monaghan (Yellow Card, 35’), M. Pogarch (Yellow Card, 37’), D. Foederer (Yellow Card, 51’), Ally Sentnor (Yellow Card, 95’). 14 fouls total
SD: C. Westphal (Yellow Card, 79’), D. Colaprico (Yellow Card, 87’). 6 fouls total
