Utah Royals Drop Third Straight In New Jersey Against Gotham FC
Sep 22, 2024, 3:39 PM
(Photo courtesy of Utah Royals FC)
(Photo courtesy of Utah Royals FC)
HARRISON, N.J. – The Utah Royals dropped a third straight game as they traveled to New Jersey to take on the Gotham FC on Sunday.
After going undefeated in July and August, Utah has dropped every game they’ve played in September.
Royals goalkeeper Mandy Haught played an exceptional game. She finished with nine saves but the Gotham had the upper hand everywhere else on the pitch. They finished with more shots, shots on goal, corners, and time of possession.
Back home for our next one pic.twitter.com/NNXx9XosAe
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) September 22, 2024
Utah Royals Face Onslaught From Gotham In Road Loss
The tone was set very early on as the Royals and Gotham kicked off from Red Bull Arena.
It took just minutes for New York to make a statement. Off of a lazy pass from Utah in their own half, Gotham took possession and immediately went on the attack.
Lynn Williams took the ball down the left side, sent a pass across the box, and found Yazmeen Ryan whose shot rolled past Haught and into the left corner of the goal.
Gotham’s Yazmeen Ryan scores immediately 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jTwMTzIQO3
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 22, 2024
From there, it was on Utah to find the equalizer.
That ended up being a tall task when up against the reigning champion Gotham FC.
The Royals finished with 12 shot attempts with only three on goal. Even though that doesn’t seem bad, the Royals were on their heels for almost the entirety of the match.
After Ryan’s goal, the next two shot attempts both came from the Gotham and both were on frame, forcing Haught to make her first two saves.
Utah’s first attempt didnt come until the 16th minute. Claudia Zornoza took a shot from the left side of the box but Ann-Katrin Berger made the save.
From the 30th to 40th minute, New York unleashed a barrage of shots on Utah’s goal. They took six shots in 10 minutes. Two were blocked, one was off-target, and three required a save from Haught.
Mandy Haught went 🆙 pic.twitter.com/ZFo3l2cBFa
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 22, 2024
Cloé Lacasse was shown a yellow card before the break to really sum up what was a frustrating first half for Utah.
And the second 45′ wouldn’t be much better.
In the first ten minutes of game time, the Gotham took four more shots. Two were blocked and Haught recorded two more saves on the other two.
The Royals had just two scoring looks in the first 40 minutes of the half. The first came from Hannah Betfort in the 71st minute and the second came from Kate Del Fava in the 82nd. The first was blocked and the second missed to the right.
With the lack of time looming over the Royals’ heads, they turned up the heat a bit down the final stretch.
Mikayla Cluff loaded up from long range in the 86th minute but was blocked. Monaghan put a shot on target a few minutes later but Berger was able to keep it from crossing the line in the bottom left corner.
Six minutes of stoppage time was added to the end of the match to give Utah one last chance at an equalizer. The Royals’ last attempt came in the 97th minute. Cluff took a shot from outside the box but missed to the left.
The match was called shortly after, leaving the Royals with a third-straight disappointing result.
Sunday funday for @GothamFC! pic.twitter.com/Zl689UBKr3
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 22, 2024
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The Utah Royals FC returns home for a match against the Racing Louisville FC on Saturday, September 28.
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