Utah Royals can clinch historic playoff berth in final home match against Seattle

HERRIMAN — The Utah Royals have spent the better part of three seasons building toward a moment like this.

On Friday night, they can make it official.

A victory over Seattle Reign FC at America First Field would secure the Royals’ first-ever playoff appearance.

With two regular-season matches remaining, the Royals (14-4-10, 46 points) sit sixth, just one point behind fourth-place Kansas City. Seattle (13-4-11, 43 points) occupies the eighth and final playoff position, three points behind Utah.

The stakes are obvious. Royals coach Jimmy Coenraets sees little reason to make them any heavier.

“Everyone knows that this is a game that if you win it, you clinch it, and you reward the season,” Coenraets said Thursday. “To us, the most important piece was let’s prep this game, let’s make sure we’re ready.”

For midfielder Courtney Brown, the possibility of reaching the postseason carries special significance.

“I think it would be nothing short of a dream, honestly,” Brown said. “Right from the get-go at the beginning of this year, we wanted to reach playoffs as a club. Obviously, it would be the first time in the iteration of this club’s history, which would be super, super sweet.”

A lot to look for in Friday’s 90 minute battle

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Familiar opponents, familiar approach

Seattle arrives in Sandy with one of the league’s stingier defenses, having recorded 10 clean sheets this season.

The Reign are led by goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and coach Laura Harvey, who coached the original Utah Royals in 2018 and 2019.

“They’re so organized defensively. That’s a Laura Harvey staple, honestly,” Brown said.

Breaking down that organization will require movement away from the ball, Brown explained, with Utah hoping to pull Seattle’s defenders into uncomfortable areas and create space for its attackers.

“We’re expecting to have a lot of movements off the ball, try to get different people on the ball in different spaces to see if we can drag their defensive players out into spaces that they don’t wanna come defend in,” Brown said.

Utah won 3-0 at Lumen Field on April 26, scoring after just two minutes.

“I think it’d be great to be 1-0 up again after two minutes,” Coenraets said. “We will be high pressing. We know that we can hurt them. We know that we’re very effective if we regain balls in the final third.”

Seattle are coming off a 3-1 road victory over Chicago in which midfielder Maddie Mercado scored a brace. Mercado leads the Reign with 10 goals on the season.

The clubs have also met twice outside league play this year, giving both coaching staffs considerable familiarity with the opposition.

“We know who we’re playing against, and we know what they’re gonna do. They know what we’re gonna do,” Coenraets said. “So it will come down to small details.”

Finding another way forward

Utah enters Friday looking to rebound from last weekend’s 2-0 home defeat to Kansas City, a match in which the Royals controlled 57% of possession but struggled to create opportunities inside the penalty area.

The Royals were without leading scorer Mina Tanaka, whose nine goals and five assists have made her an integral part of Utah’s attack.

Replacing Tanaka against Kansas City required shifting several players out of position, including Cece Delzer. Coenraets plans a different approach Friday.

“This weekend we’re gonna change that a bit again, and I think we’re gonna put Cece into the position where she’s been playing the whole season, because she’s been doing well,” Coenraets said. “It’s more like how do we sub Mina and how do we bring someone else that will not be Mina, because you don’t have a second Mina. 

“I don’t think in this role there is a second Mina at all. So it’s just finding something else and how do we use that weapon against Seattle?”

Cloé Lacasse, who has eight goals and 10 assists, remains central to Utah’s attacking ambitions, alongside Delzer and Kiana Palacios.

Finishing what they started

Eight players remain from the Royals’ 2024 roster, a group that has experienced the growing pains of a returning franchise and now stands on the brink of its first postseason.

“We picked up players in 2024, and they’ve grown with us to what we are today,” Coenraets said. “We’ve developed players that are right now ready to compete for playoffs, where in 2024 maybe we weren’t.”

Brown, who returned home to Utah in free agency, has experienced her own challenges finding consistent minutes, but said contributing to the club’s playoff push has made the season meaningful.

The midfielder also credited the growing support from Royals fans with providing energy for the team.

“I feel like the fans have been great this season,” Brown said. “I feel like as the season’s gone on, more and more people have started to show up to the games, and we feel the support, we feel the love. We just had a fan event at the stadium the other day. Lots of people came through. It was super awesome to see everyone and we definitely feel the support.”

Friday will be Utah’s final regular-season home match before a Nov. 1 trip to Gotham FC. A top-four finish would bring another match to America First Field, but Brown isn’t looking that far ahead.

“We need to get in first, right?” she said. “We need to take this one step at a time, and the next step that we have is the game tomorrow.”

For Coenraets, the opportunity represents the culmination of months of work by a squad he believes has learned to lead itself.

“It’s been a good 10 months of very hard work,” he said. “It’s just making sure we finish what we started.”

Match information

Who: Utah Royals vs. Seattle Reign FC

When: Friday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. MT

Where: America First Field, Sandy, Utah

Watch: NWSL+