‘We always find a way’: Utah Royals bring new mentality home against Boston

HERRIMAN — The Utah Royals have gotten pretty good at digging themselves out of holes.

Head coach Jimmy Coenraets would prefer they stop falling into them.

Utah rallied from a halftime deficit Saturday to beat the Orlando Pride 2-1 on the road, the Royals’ third comeback victory of the season.

“If you look at last season, every time we conceded a goal, I think that the game was considered to be done,” Coenraets said Thursday after training. “And right now we always find a way of coming back, and I think that’s a positive.”

The Royals return to America First Field on Friday against Boston Legacy FC sitting third in the NWSL with 39 points, one behind second-place Washington and six behind league-leading Gotham. Utah has won three of its last five despite conceding in each of those matches.

“It’s a good and a bad thing, isn’t it?” Coenraets said. “It’s good that we have the mentality and the ability to come back. But I think the biggest piece for me is, like, how do we manage, or how do we make sure we don’t concede?”

Cloe Lacasse, who had a goal and an assist in Orlando, sees those comebacks as evidence of something Utah didn’t always have in the past: belief that it can take points from anybody.

“I think it’s just about competing,” Lacasse said. “I think this group knows that we can take points any given day against any given opponent, so it’s just that mindset, knowing we can get results and following through with that.”

An identity taking shape

Friday’s match carries a couple of milestones for a club that has undergone a substantial transformation.

Coenraets said this week marks his 50th game with the club as head coach, while Mina Tanaka is set to make her 50th NWSL appearance.

Coenraets inherited a team at the bottom of the league. The Royals now sit among the NWSL’s leaders, and Coenraets said the challenge is making that position sustainable rather than a one-year surge.

“It’s fun to see where we started, and we started at the bottom, like quite literally at the bottom when we came in, and now we’re somewhere there in the top five, top six,” Coenraets said. “I think that’s where we wanna be.”

Lacasse believes Utah has developed something else along the way: a recognizable way of playing.

“I think this was the first season that people could see an identity and they know what to expect when the Royals come out,” Lacasse said. “Our pressure has been phenomenal. I think it’s one of the best presses in the league, and I think we’re getting a little bit of a reputation for that.”

The attack has become difficult to predict, too.

Tanaka leads Utah with eight goals and has four assists, while Lacasse has seven goals and a league-leading 10 assists. Those 10 assists have gone to eight different teammates, and Utah has had 12 different players score this season.

“I think it’s just about versatility,” Lacasse said. “We’re finding different ways to score, whereas maybe in the past we were kind of one-dimensional, two-dimensional, whereas it was a little bit more predictable. But now we’re finding so many different ways, so many different players that can finish, so it makes it very hard to defend.”

Tanaka has been central to that growth.

“She’s been nothing short of amazing for us,” Coenraets said. “She is one of those that doesn’t talk a lot but talks with her feet and is always ready.”

Lacasse has an idea for commemorating her teammate’s milestone.

“Let’s get her a goal too for that special day, right?” she said. “Mina’s a very talented player. Her leadership, her poise, her finishing, iconic.”

Focusing on themselves

Boston arrives in Utah headed in the opposite direction.

The expansion side is 15th in the 16-team league with 20 points and has lost four consecutive matches, including a 5-2 home loss to Angel City on Monday. Boston has conceded 15 goals during that four-match losing streak.

But its relative newness can make it difficult to prepare for.

“They are unpredictable,” Lacasse said. “I think they’re still trying to figure out their identity, which makes it difficult to scout just because they’re also trying to figure things out.”

Boston’s tendency to foul could disrupt Utah’s preferred rhythm, but Coenraets believes that creates opportunities for a Royals team he considers dangerous from set pieces.

“If the game’s gonna give us a low rhythm but a lot of set plays, let’s focus on set plays and get those qualitatively right so they have to do something else,” Coenraets said. “It’s just finding a way within the context of the game.”

More than anything, Coenraets wants Utah dictating that context.

Boston played Monday. Utah is home for the first time since beating Bay FC 3-2 on Aug. 14. And with eight regular-season matches remaining, the Royals are firmly in the race for the top of the table.

“We play at home, we play at our pitch, so we have to go out and just think about ourselves and not necessarily about an opposition,” Coenraets said. “I hope and I think they’ll be looking at us and trying to mitigate and neutralize our weapons more than we’re looking at them.

“I think that’s not being arrogant, but that’s just also our mentality.”

How to watch

Who: Utah Royals FC vs. Boston Legacy FC
When: Friday, Sept. 4, 7:30 p.m. MT
Where: America First Field, Sandy
TV/Streaming: NWSL+ | KMYU
Theme: Superhero Night, featuring superhero photo opportunities, cape giveaways and the Matchday Market.