Utah Royals Suffer Blow Out Loss To Gotham FC In Final Game Of Season

SANDY, Utah- The Utah Royals have completed their inaugural season in the NWSL after returning to the league as an explanation team. The Utah Royals and Gotham FC battled at America First Field on Friday night during the final day of the NWSL regular season.

Utah’s playoff fate was already sealed, having already been eliminated from postseason contention, but Gotham was competing for playoff positioning and the Royals were looking to play spoiler.

The Starting XI for the home team 🏠#UTAvGFC | @Intermountain pic.twitter.com/wCJ3j1W1Vd

— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) November 2, 2024

First Half

Gotham, who will enter the NWSL playoffs as the #2 seed, brought the heat early, winning two corner kicks in the first three minutes, both conceded by Madison Pogarch.

Utah looked to strike early as well, playing the ball toward goal and forcing a corner of their own, but this back-and-forth start quickly turned on its head with Gotham’s ability to quickly strike.

In the 15th minute, a series of dribbles and well-placed passes on the far side of the field for Gotham led to a mini breakaway as Gotham found themselves with numbers on Utah’s back line. Ella Stevens played a pass into the box, and Rose Lavelle, knowing there weren’t enough Royals in the box to mark her and her teammate, smartly left the ball, setting up Yazmeen Ryan to burry it into the back of the net from close range.

Yazmeen Ryan is not missing from there 😤 pic.twitter.com/5TsNRtm5AH

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 2, 2024

The Royals attempted to regroup following the goal, but only two minutes later, Gotham struck like lightning once again. Gotham was possessing on their attacking half, looking for a pass into the box. The ball came swinging in from the far side of the field but took a deflection once it entered the box, exiting toward midfield. It found the feet of Mandy Freeman, who had space and took a shoot from just outside the box, ending in a wonder goal for her first in the NWSL. The game went from a scoreless tie to a 2-0 lead for Gotham in just two minutes.

TAKE A BOW, MANDY FREEMAN!

What a way to score your first NWSL goal 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/s6nNK6JXaJ

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 2, 2024

Gotham continued their barrage as Esther González put three more shots toward net in the span of four minutes, one even going in before it was overturned due to a handball.

Just before halftime, Rose Lavelle looked to add a score to the stat sheet with two shots, but the Utah defense kept the score at 2-0 entering the break.

Second Half

At halftime, Cameron Tucker came on for Mina Tanaka.

Esther González of Gotham FC started the half with two quick shots.

For most of the second half, Gotham played to protect their lead, with the Royals getting a good amount of chances to put the ball toward goal, with Gotham getting a few of their own dangerous possessions as well.

In the 54th minute, Ally Sentnor snapped off two shots, one from inside the box that missed right and the other from outside the box that missed left, as Utah was still in search of their first goal of the night.

It finally all came together for the Royals in the 77th minute. Utah had just won back possession and the players were shifting from one end of the field to the other. Hannah Betfort had a step on her defender and made a perfectly timed run to stay onside. Kate Del Fava saw it and put a perfectly weighted pass over the top, leaving Betfort 1-on-1 with the keeper. She got her shot off before the keeper could come up to defend, kissing the ball off the inside of the right post and in for the goal. Utah was within a goal with 13 minutes to play.

Kate ➡️ Hannah ➡️ GOALLL UTAH ROYALS!! pic.twitter.com/CMPlLTewpU

— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) November 2, 2024

Utah looked to push to find the equalizer, but this opened things up on their back line, giving Gotham room to work with whenever they got the ball.

Gotham scored their third goal of the night with another stunner as Esther González finally broke through, chipping the keeper on her first touch from outside the box.

THE CHIP, THE DIP, OH MY ESTHER! pic.twitter.com/ELNLdFBRdf

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 2, 2024

Gotham would add one more before the final whistle blew, their fourth coming off a set piece. Yazmeen Ryan played the corner into the box and Esther González made a run toward the near post, deflecting the ball with the inside of her right foot, guiding the ball to the back post, nestling it into the corner, good for her brace.

THAT CHEEKY FINISH FROM ESTHER FOR HER SECOND GOAL OF THE NIGHT 🤌 pic.twitter.com/vMKfoSL5xW

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 2, 2024

Seven minutes of stoppage time would be played, but the score would remain 4-1.

That's all from tonight pic.twitter.com/lHm5SYFKb0

— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) November 2, 2024

Utah Royals In Their First Season

In their first season as returning members of the NWSL, the Utah Royals ended with a record of 7-4-15, earning 25 points only missing the playoffs by six points.

The Royals announced only a week ago that they would be hiring current interim head coach Jimmy Coenraets as the club’s manager, giving the team stability during the offseason and hopefully allowing them to build off the momentum of their first year of finishing middle of the table.

To our royal fam, we can't thank you enough for all the support this season 💛

We'll see ya in 2025 👑 pic.twitter.com/rfHMYSR9Kv

— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) November 2, 2024

Tanner Tripp is a sports writer for KSL Sports covering all teams across the state of Utah. Follow him on X @tanner_tripp and Instagram @tanner.tripp here.

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