Utah Royals have a pattern to break in Louisville

HERRIMAN — The Utah Royals have been remarkably consistent lately, just not in the way they would prefer.

Win. Loss. Win. Loss.

Utah has alternated results for 11 consecutive matches entering Saturday’s road matchup with Racing Louisville, never losing two straight but also unable to string together consecutive victories.

Head coach Jimmy Coenraets isn’t losing sleep over it.

“I think it’s not a bad streak, is it? Winning 50% of all the games,” Coenraets said. “Obviously you wanna be winning more games, that’s a goal, but you also gotta realize you’re in the NWSL, so that’s not always easy.”

The Royals have an opportunity to finally break the pattern Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium and carry some momentum into the upcoming international break.

Utah enters the weekend fourth in the NWSL with 45 points after last Sunday’s 2-1 victory over North Carolina. Racing Louisville sits 15th with 23 points and has lost six consecutive matches, conceding multiple goals in each.

Those circumstances, however, are part of what Coenraets believes could make Louisville more dangerous and unpredictable Saturday.

North Carolina arrived at America First Field fighting for its playoff life. Louisville has already been eliminated and has little left to lose.

“Louisville just lost the playoffs, so they might just go all in and they might just show up and be very confident,” Coenraets said. “So just a total different game, I think. Again, it’s just understanding what we need to do to win this game.”

Learning to stack wins

Utah has already beaten Louisville once this season, earning a 2-1 victory at America First Field on May 17. In fact, the Royals are 3-0 all-time against Louisville in Utah, while Louisville is 2-0 against them at Lynn Family Stadium.

The Royals have also learned this season that position in the standings offers little indication of how difficult an NWSL match will be.

Utah has beaten teams above and around the playoff line while also dropping points against teams near the bottom of the table.

Coenraets believes last week’s victory over North Carolina showed a team better equipped to handle those situations.

“The biggest performance we’ve had was winning against North Carolina, not just from a performance point of view and not from a playing point of view, but from a mental point of view, where the stakes were very high,” Coenraets said. “I think it was almost a playoff game that we played.”

The Royals took an early lead through a Cloé Lacasse header before Ashley Sanchez equalized from the penalty spot. Rather than allowing the match to get away from them, Utah used a pattern identified by the coaching staff at halftime to spring Cece Delzer for the eventual game-winner.

“I think we are beyond the point now, and I think we are in a place where we can be confident,” Coenraets said. “We’ll go out to win against Louisville.”

Lacasse sees an opportunity to turn one victory into something more.

“We wanna go into a run before playoffs, so we’re hoping that this is a perfect opportunity to start that, especially before an international break,” Lacasse said. “You wanna have good energy around the club.”

Finding space against Louisville’s press

Louisville uses a high press that can push into one-on-one matchups, something Coenraets knows Utah will have to navigate Saturday.

But the Royals also recognize the opportunities that aggression can create.

Coenraets pointed to Utah’s own losses against San Diego and Boston, when opponents found success bypassing the Royals’ press by playing more directly.

“I think it’d be stupid to acknowledge that our biggest weakness is when teams go quite direct against us, and then not apply it against teams that are doing the same that we do,” Coenraets said.

That means recognizing when Louisville commits numbers forward and attacking the space left behind.

“Their left fullback becomes a left winger almost,” Coenraets said. “Well, that means there is space, and I think it’s just the appreciation of space and utilizing space that we’ll have to do.”

Louisville has players fully capable of exploiting mistakes at the other end.

Emma Sears has seven goals and five assists this season and recently earned another U.S. national team call-up, while Kayla Fischer has added seven goals of her own.

For Utah, Saturday represents the final match before a two-week international break and the beginning of the final push toward the postseason.

Coenraets plans to use the break to rest and deload players before the final three regular-season matches. Lacasse would prefer to send everyone into it with another three points.

“We’re running on all cylinders right now, and we just gotta keep going,” Lacasse said. “We have a few more games, so a couple more wins.”

How to watch

Who: Utah Royals at Racing Louisville FC
Where: Lynn Family Stadium, Louisville, Kentucky
When: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2 p.m. MT
TV/Streaming: ION
Listen: KSL Sports Radio (102.7 FM / 1160 AM)