Utah Royals hold off Angel City for club-record 4th straight win, unbeaten in 5

SANDY — It wasn’t always pretty Saturday evening in the City of Angels, but the Utah Royals continued its franchise-best start to the season.

Cloé Lacasse scored the lone goal of the match from Paige Cronin, and Utah Royals FC held off Angel City FC 1-0 to stretch the club’s winning streak to four straight and a franchise-best third consecutive road win at BMO Field in Los Angeles.

“Everyone’s talking about a streak. I’m talking about the outcome that you’re putting in,” Utah coach Jimmy Coenraets said of his historically surging team. “If you keep on giving that input, the outcome is going to be there.”

Mandy McGlynn made four saves to earn the shutout in her first start of the season for Utah (4-1-2, 13 points). The United States international also shared a shutout in last week’s 3-0 win over Seattle in her first action since recovering from a hand injury suffered in training camp with the national team.

With U.S. coach Emma Hayes banging drums in the Angel City supporters’ section, McGlynn made another statement, commanding her box, diving for punch saves, and dictating her back line to push the Royals’ unbeaten run to five straight.

Coenraets made just one change from last week’s 3-0 win over Seattle, inserting McGlynn in her first start of the season after the usual No. 1 shot stopper played the final 10 minutes against the Reign.

He nearly had another change to make just a minute in, when Ana Tejada went  down with an apparent hand injury. The veteran defensive presence returned moments later with a wrap on her left hand.

But it was Lacasse who scored her second goal in as many matches, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead with a dangerous header from Cronin’s cross in the 32nd minute.

The funny thing, Lacasse recounted, was that she scored a mirror image of the goal the day prior in training. Her teammates laugh, thinking it was the first time she scored with her head.

She showed them again Saturday.

“Paige had a great cross,” Lacasse added, “and the pace on it was fantastic.”

It was the 16th consecutive regular-season match with a goal for Utah, a club record. Lacasse’s goal was also the fourth of the 2026 season in the final 15 minutes of a first half, a mark that leads the 16-team league.

Replaying this Paige assist and Cloé goal on repeat 🔂 pic.twitter.com/tHD8alYjV6

— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) May 3, 2026

That Cronin’s return from injury coincided with back-to-back goal contributions is no surprise to her head coach, though.

“It’s just someone that wants to put in the work for the team,” Coenraets said of Cronin. “She’s one of the most selfless players we have … She’s doing what she needs to do on the pitch, and she’s showing leadership.”

Utah Royals hold on for history

Angel City (3-0-3, 9 points) out-shot the Royals 5-4 in the first half, but only put two shots on target. The hosts were then forced down a player just before halftime, when Maiara Niehues was sent off with a straight red card for violent conduct as Utah took a 1-0 lead at the break.

But the Angelenas didn’t go away.

McGlynn parried aside a right-footed rip from Sveindís Jónsdóttir in the 76th minute to help the visitors cling to a 1-0 lead, and a second attempt moments  later inched just wide of the left post.

“They are such an aggressive team with a very aggressive front line,” McGlynn said of Angel City. “It took everyone, even Mina coming back into the box, putting their bodies on the line, blocking crosses and blocking shots. Mentally, we just had to grind that out.”

Jónsdóttir had another header attempt in the final minute of regulation, but her attempt from a corner kick sailed just wide after McGlynn’s initial punch. Angel City out-shot Utah 4-1 including two shots on target after halftime.

But a combination of McGlynn’s heroics, a total team defensive effort, and second-half substitutions from Cece Delzer, Alexa Spaanstra and Utah native Courtney Brown helped push the Royals to fourth in the NWSL table.

Next up

After back-to-back road games, the Royals return home for the first time since April 3 to host the Houston Dash on Wednesday, May 6.

Kickoff from America First Field is scheduled for 8 p.m. MT on CBS Sports Network.

Follow Utah Royals with KSL Sports

All Utah Royals English-language radio coverage for the 2026 season will air on KSL radio signals, primarily KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM/1280 AM) and KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM / 1160 AM).

You can find KSL Sports coverage of Utah Royals FC here.