Utah Royals Early Struggles Continue In Blowout Loss To Kansas City
Mar 29, 2025, 7:46 PM | Updated: 8:43 pm
Photo courtesy of Utah Royals on X.
The Utah Royals came into CPKC Stadium on Saturday evening seeking their first win on the young season. The Royals have been close in their first two games with a draw versus Bay FC and a one-goal loss to San Diego, but have still been unable to get into the W column.
On the other side of the pitch, Kansas City was off to an undefeated 2-0 start, carrying over momentum from last year when they finished fourth in the standings before falling to the Orlando Pride in the NWSL Playoff Semifinals.
Unfortunately for Utah, Kansas City imposed their will on the game early and scored three times in the first half, allowing them to defend that lead in the second, resulting in the Royals’ worst loss of the young season, going down to the Currents 3-0.
Final from CKPC Stadium pic.twitter.com/X6vDuEfqWB
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 30, 2025
First Half
Almost as soon as the kickoff started the game, it seemed that Kansas City was providing consistent pressure to Utah.
For a good part of the first few minutes of the game, Utah was backed up in their defensive third, unable to clear the ball or advance it up the field as the Current pressed.
Every once in a while, Royals would find a hole in the KC defense, but the chances were few and far between. If Utah was able to get the ball past midfield, it would last only moments before Kansas City would take the ball back and push it in the other direction.
While Utah did hold a lot of the possession in the first half, most of it was on their defensive half of the field, and Kansas City didn’t hold the ball for long as their breakouts happened so quickly, resulting in more scoring chances.
The Royals’ defense finally broke when a Kansas City throw-in resulted in a goal from Temwa Chawinga, tying her own record with a goal in eight straight games.
KC DOESN'T GIVE UP 😤
Michelle Cooper's second cross into the box falls perfectly to Temwa Chawinga to finish pic.twitter.com/sPpYrNXpPI
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) March 30, 2025
Kansas City wasn’t done scoring in the first half, however, but their next two goals came from Utah turnovers near their own goal.
On their second, a cross fell perfectly at the feet of Michelle Cooper, who buried it into the back of the net.
FIRST TIME COOP HAS HAD A GOAL & AN ASSIST 🔥@michelle1cooper can't be stopped !!@NWSL | #KCBABY pic.twitter.com/yKPFRAxJSr
— KC Current (@thekccurrent) March 30, 2025
The third happened quickly as a pass sailed, and the Current regained possession, putting it into the box where it ping-ponged until it found Debinha who put it away to make the score 3-0.
TOO EASY FOR DEB 😮💨@Debinha7 scores her 49th career regular season goal!!@NWSL | #KCBABY pic.twitter.com/2Zal9UuuDa
— KC Current (@thekccurrent) March 30, 2025
Second Half
Utah really pushed the issue right out of the gate in the second half, making for a more physical and high-speed stretch of gameplay.
Janni Thomsen, Madison Pogarch, and Claudia Zornoza all required stoppages due to injuries within the first 25 minutes of the first half as they efforted to get back into the game.
However, the burst from the Royals didn’t yield any goals, and players began to get frustrated and were taking it out on the field. Janni Thomsen and Madison Pogarch were both shown yellow cards for hard fouls on Kansas City players.
The rough start to the season continued for the Utah Royals, falling to the Kansas City Current 3-0, and now they still have only one point three games into the season.
Next For The Utah Royals
The NWSL will be on an international break as members of each squad travel home to their home countries to compete for their national teams.
The next time that the Utah Royals will be in action is at home on Friday, April 11, against Portland Thorns FC.
