September 28, 2024 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Utah Royals FC News Release
SANDY, Utah – Utah Royals FC (5-13-3, 18 pts, 13th NWSL) defeat Racing Louisville FC (6-9-7, 25pts, 8th NWSL) 1-0 at America First Field. Entering Matchday 22 the Royals needed a result, win or tie, to avoid being eliminated from playoff contention.
Utah Royals starting XI welcomed Cristina Roque between the sticks, making her NWSL regular season debut. The Puerto Rican goalkeeper logged two saves in her first professional clean sheet on Hispanic Heritage Night.
Captain Paige Monaghan was honored pre-game for becoming the 100th NWSL player to reach 100 NWSL appearances. Monaghan’s night ended early after suffering an ankle injury in the seventh minute.
URFC dominated the first half, holding the majority of the half in its attacking half. The Royals held a four percent possession advantage (52/48), nine shot advantage (10/1), and had the one shot on target in the half. Outside backs Zoe Burns and Olivia Griffiths played a large role in the Royals attack with its best chance of the half coming from Burn’s near the touchline inside to Claudia Zornoza who fired the ball to far post soaring inches wide
Returning from the break a back-and-forth affair broke loose as both sides eyed the advantage and all three points. Utah Royals’ Spanish midfield duo connected just inside its attacking third as Zornoza layed off a pass to Ana Tejada who fired from distance finding the side netting bringing 9,000 fans to their feet.
Tejada’s game winner crowned her as the Player of the Match alongside adding to her scoring account with the blue-and-gold upping her total up to two.
Tonight’s win extends URFC’s record to 5-0-1 when scoring first during the 2024 Return of Royalty. 16 of Utah’s 18 points have come in matches when URFC strikes first.
Utah Royals visit Portland Thorns next Saturday, October 5 at 8:00 p.m. MT prior to returning to the Wasatch Front hosting Seattle Reign FC on Sunday, October 13 at 3:00 p.m. MT. Tickets are available at rsl.com/utahroyals.
UTA 1 : 0 LOU
GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:
UTA: Ana Tejada (Claudia Zornoza) 78′: Settling from a Louisville half-clearance attempting to clear a Royals set piece Ana Tejada played a simple pass to Claudia Zornoza to space out a condensed Louisville defense. Zornoza played back to Tejada quickly, with space in front of her Tejada had her eye for goal. Winding up, Tejada fired from deep towards the near post beating Katie Lund to the bottom…