Royals fall to Shield-winning Gotham, face questions ahead of playoffs

SANDY — The Utah Royals entered Sunday’s regular-season finale hoping to measure themselves against the best team in the NWSL, but came up short on the night.

Guro Reiten scored in the ninth minute, Jaedyn Shaw added an insurance goal in the 80th, and Gotham defeated Utah 2-0 at Sports Illustrated Stadium to claim the NWSL Shield.

The loss extended Utah’s scoring drought to three matches, leaving the Royals seventh in the final standings ahead of their first playoff appearance in franchise history.

Gotham, meanwhile, finished the season atop the table after winning last season’s NWSL Championship as the eighth seed.

Despite the result, Royals head coach Jimmy Coenraets believes his side demonstrated its ability to compete with the league’s best.

“I think we were front-footed from the start,” Coenraets said. “We came out, and I don’t think we held back.”

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Gotham strikes early

The hosts wasted little time putting Utah under pressure.

Midge Purce found space down the right flank in the ninth minute and sent a cross into the penalty area. The ball deflected off a Royals defender and fell kindly to Reiten at the back post, where the Norwegian poked it past Mandy McGlynn.

Utah nearly responded four minutes later.

Nuria Rábano delivered a cross to Miyabi, who controlled with her left foot before unleashing a right-footed strike toward the far corner. German international goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger produced an outstanding save to preserve Gotham’s lead.

McGlynn answered with a fine intervention of her own in the 15th minute, getting a glove to Denise O’Sullivan’s powerful effort and sending it over the crossbar.

“I think if you look at the two goals Gotham scores tonight, I don’t think those were the most obvious and clear opportunities,” Coenraets said.

“If you then look at ours, and you look at the moment Miyabi had in front of Berger in the first half, those are the real opportunities, and we don’t finish them.”

Shaw entered in the 60th minute and nearly doubled Gotham’s advantage eight minutes later, sending a shot narrowly wide.

She made no mistake in the 80th, getting the slightest touch on another Purce delivery to redirect the ball past McGlynn.

A controversial decision

Two minutes after Gotham’s second goal, Brecken Mozingo cut across Tierna Davidson inside the penalty area and went to ground following heavy contact from the Gotham defender.

No penalty was awarded, and a VAR check allowed the decision to stand.

“I do think it’s a clear PK,” Coenraets said. “The explanation was that the defender didn’t make any movement towards the attacker, and the attacker actually ran into her, which I think is a bit strange if you look at the direction the defender is going and the direction my attacker is going.”

The Belgian manager suggested the decision reflected a broader pattern of marginal calls going against his team.

“It feels like we’re almost playing something bigger, something that we don’t see at the minute because I think a lot of the calls that go 50/50 are going against us, which I think is unfair,” he said.

“It just almost sometimes seems that other teams, because of the names they have and the names they are as an organization, are more lucky than we are.”

Coenraets suggested the Royals will have to earn the same respect afforded to more established clubs through their performances on the pitch.

“I think that’s maybe the respect we have to make sure that we gain over the performances and the way we’ve been playing,” he said.

Finding goals without Tanaka

The Royals have not scored since Mozingo’s stoppage-time equalizer against Racing Louisville, the last match Mina Tanaka played before suffering a hamstring injury on international duty.

Coenraets acknowledged that Tanaka’s absence affects more than the goals she provides.

“Having players of a quality of Mina enable others,” he said. “Have you seen Chloe as much as you usually do? No. Probably also because you don’t have a Mina that can serve her, so we’re playing with different profiles.”

He praised Jameese Joseph and Courtney Brown for their contributions but acknowledged the difficulty of adjusting so late in the season.

“We know how to win games without Mina, and we just have to find our way,” he said.

Knockout football awaits

Utah now turns its attention to second-seeded San Diego Wave, which will host the Royals on Friday night in the opening match of the NWSL playoffs.

Coenraets isn’t interested in dwelling on the defeat or overhauling his approach.

“Do you wanna spend plenty of time in fixing things or do you wanna go and go, ‘Here’s how we’re gonna win against San Diego’?” he asked.

Defensive midfielder Ana Tejada welcomed the challenge of Utah’s first postseason appearance.

“Every match is gonna be a war,” she said. “So we’re ready for it and we’ll go with all our energy and intentions to get the victory.”

“There is nothing more pleasant than knockout football, to be honest, because it can get spooky,” Coenraets said.

“We wanna put a team on a pitch next week that can compete to win.”