Utah Royals Fall To Washington Spirit In First Road Match Of Season
Mar 31, 2024, 1:21 PM | Updated: Apr 1, 2024, 1:30 pm
SANDY, Utah – U.S. National Team member Trinity Rodman controlled the opening 30 minutes, leading Washington to a 2-1 win over the Royals.
Utah Royals FC (1-1-1) played its first road match of the season, taking on the Washington Spirit (2-0-1) at Audio Field on Sunday, March 31.
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A whole lotta fight but came up short pic.twitter.com/D40LvQiYxZ
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 31, 2024
First Half
The opening minutes were played mainly in the middle third as each team probed for a way to attack.
Washington’s Trinity Rodman helped create the first scoring chance, but Mandy Haught gobbled up Ouleymata Sarr’s shot in the six-yard box.
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Moments later, Olivia Griffitts fouled Croix Bethune in the box, setting up a penalty shot. Andi Sullivan deposited the right-footed penalty in the back corner past a diving Haught to give Washington a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute.
21' | The hosts are on the board first#WASvUTA | 1-0
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 31, 2024
Immediately after a lengthy review resulted in Dana Foederer’s yellow card for a bad tackle, the Spirit added their second goal. Sarr got loose in the center of the box and headed a Rodman pass by Haught for a 30-minute goal.
Multiple delays meant 13 minutes of stoppage time to close the half.
Looking to turn it around in the 2nd half pic.twitter.com/1vt3VuvoeA
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 31, 2024
Second Half
Kate Del Fava picked up the Royals’ second card of the match with a bad foul in the 49th minute.
Utah couldn’t generate a consistent attacking presence as Washington laid back with the two-goal lead.
46' | Making some changes at the half#WASvUTA | 2-0 pic.twitter.com/M9nEEqb5SS
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 31, 2024
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The Spirit had a shot bounce off the post in the 57th minute as they looked for a back-breaking three-goal lead.
Ally Sentnor had a scoring chance in the 65th minute, but Aubrey Kingsbury was up to the challenge and blocked the shot away.
The offensive frustration ended in the 71st minute when Foederer found Sentnor outside the box for a blast that beat Kingsbury.
Ally with the absolute clutch goal 😤 pic.twitter.com/9ze5fdRbpb
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 31, 2024
Trailing 2-1, Brecken Mozingo found Foederer in the box, but Kingsbury made two outstanding saves to keep Washington in front.
Utah couldn’t get any closer, suffering a 2-1 defeat.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering the Utah State Aggies, Locals in MLB, and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees, Beehive baseball, and Aggie athletics coverage here.
