May 9, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Utah Royals News Release
SANDY, Utah 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,…