Utah Royals extend 7-match unbeaten run with 0-0 draw at Bay FC

SANDY — The right back line is every goalkeeper’s best friend, but Utah Royals FC netminder Mandy McGlynn had every reason to thank her front line for another shutout Sunday afternoon.

McGlynn had one save as the Utah Royals extended their unbeaten run to seven-straight matches with a 0-0 draw with Bay FC at PayPal Park in San Jose, California.

Credit goes to center backs Kate Del Fava and Kaleigh Riehl along with the defensive third, but Utah’s defense that is currently running at the highest level in the club’s history has plenty of thank-you’s to go around. 

“It’s a team shutout,” McGlynn said, “and a testament to what we have.”

McGlynn’s second-straight clean sheet extended the Royals’ franchise-record shutout streak to 468 minutes across five matches. The league record for clean sheets is 690 minutes.

“Utah’s a really dynamic team … but to be able to come out with back-to-back shutouts is huge for us,” Bay FC goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz told the Victory+ postmatch show after the goalie wars. “We have a really great foundation that’s been instilled in this group. Obviously, it’s frustrating in moments to not be able to score a goal; we had our chances today. But we’ll continue to layer those in and get better each and every match.”

Still, credit goes to the Royals, who extended a Bay’s futility record against their 2024 expansion counterparts to five straight matches with a third consecutive away shutout in the series. Utah inched down to third place in the 16-team NWSL, but is just 1 point behind second-place San Diego Wave FC and 2 points off league leaders Portland.

“We’ve had a bit of an underdog mentality,” Riehl said. “We know that no one expected this from us, but we expected it from ourselves.”

A beautiful block from Narumi to keep the match even for the Utah Royals 👏 pic.twitter.com/jGGiStjMLD

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 10, 2026

Utah Royals could’ve had more, but will take a point

Utah made two personnel changes from Wednesday night’s 2-0 win over the Houston Dash as outside back Nuria Rábano and forward Kiana Palacios returned to the starting lineup.

Bay out-shot the Royals 5-2 in the first half, but Utah turned aside each one. The 2024 expansion side had six touches in the box, but couldn’t register a shot on target before the break thanks to defending like a sliding block by Narumi late in the half to maintain the clean sheet.

The two teams had a combined 0.195 expected goals in the first 45 minutes, though slightly more favorable to Utah thanks to a high-press and two-way attacking players.

“That’s huge for us,” Riehl said. “It gives us so much momentum and confidence. I think those little moments, we can really gather around and get energy from them. They are every bit a part of that shutout; that block (from Narumi) was huge. 

“Those are game-changing plays,” she added.

Paige Cronin, who came on as a sub for Utah in the 61st minute, put the first shot on target of the match with a turnover forced from a high press just over five minutes after she replaced Palacios in the second half.

Silkowitz did well to deny Cronin’s transition effort, then added what would’ve been another stunning save against Mina Tanaka in the 79th minute. The latter didn’t count, of course, because the offsides flag was up.

Still, both goalkeeping performances were up to the task including recent U.S. international McGlynn making a save in second-half stoppage time to keep her second consecutive shutout in the Mothers’ Day matinee.

Silkowitz made a save that counted at the 90th minute, turning aside Cronin’s effort from Tanaka in transition that nearly gave the visitors all 3 points on the road with consistent pressure that also came from second-half sub Alexa Spaanstra.

“That’s also a shoutout to the recruitment team and the people upstairs who brought in the right players,” said Utah coach Jimmy Coenraets, whose club acquired Spaanstra on a half-season loan from the Thorns at the start of the season. “That’s a big thing for me.”

🧱 Jordan Silkowitz with two HUGE saves to deny the Utah Royals 🧱 pic.twitter.com/9poaaMfbDV

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 10, 2026

Next up

After wrapping up a run of three matches in eight days run with 7 points, Utah Royals FC returns home next Sunday, May 17 to host 14th-place Racing Louisville FC (2-1-5, 8 points).

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT at America First Field in Sandy.

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.