Rodriguez Goal Gives Royals Win Over Sky Blue
Jun 16, 2019, 10:09 AM
Utah Royals FC forward Amy Rodriguez (8) celebrates her goal with Utah Royals FC midfielder Verónica Boquete (21) against the Sky Blue FC in Sandy on Saturday, June 15, 2019. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
SANDY, Utah – After a brief World Cup break, Utah Royals FC returned to Rio Tinto Stadium without five of their starters and picked up a 1-0 win over Sky Blue FC.
The Royals’ only goal came from Amy Rodriguez in the 16th minute, scoring for the fifth time this season.
Goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart made five saves and completed her fifth clean sheet this season.
In the 35th minute, the Royals lost midfielder Vero Boquete due to injury.
With the Sky Blue creating more chances in the second half to equalize, Utah was able to hold them off to pick up the win, snapping a two-game skid. Sky Blue outshot the Royals 17-11, but Utah put six shots on goal compared to five shots on target for Sky Blue.
The win puts the Royals in second place in the NWSL with 16 points. The Washington Spirit are in first place with 17 points.
3️⃣ points in the 👜 pic.twitter.com/i5zMNByYLU
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) June 16, 2019
The Royals were without Christen Press, Becky Sauerbrun and Kelley O’Hara, who are with the United States Women’s National Team at the World Cup in France. Desiree Scott is with Canada and Katie Bowen is with New Zealand at the World Cup as well.
Utah Royals will travel to Portland to face Thorns FC, who is in third place in the standings with 15 points. It will be the first meeting this season between the two clubs. The match will be on Friday at 9 p.m. at Providence Park and can be streamed on sports.ksl.com or the KSL TV app.
