‘We could have won this one’: Royals turn page from encouraging loss to Portland test

SANDY — The Utah Royals left the field Wednesday night empty-handed, but head coach Jimmy Coenraets didn’t walk away discouraged.

After a 1-0 loss to league-leading Washington Spirit, the Utah head coach wasn’t interested in moral victories. But he also wasn’t willing to ignore what he believed was one of the club’s strongest performances of the season.

“I think we could have won this one,” Coenraets said. “I’m not saying we should have had three points, but where they capitalized on five seconds, we probably had about one minute and thirty of those five-second moments, but we didn’t capitalize on it.”

The Royals have little time to dwell on what might have been.

Portland Thorns FC visits America First Field on Sunday evening, giving Utah another opportunity to measure itself against one of the NWSL’s perennial contenders.

Competing isn’t enough anymore

The Royals outshot Washington, consistently pinned the league leaders in their own half and created several dangerous chances before ultimately falling to Trinity Rodman’s lone goal.

For Coenraets, that performance reinforced something he has believed for weeks.

“I think we’re showing the outside world that there is a reason why we’re there,” he said.

The Royals have now experienced both sides of the coin in consecutive matches.

Against North Carolina, they scored four goals despite not playing what Coenraets considered their best match.

Against Washington, they arguably played better but came away with no points to show for it.

“Last week we showed a way of winning a game where we can all talk about it wasn’t the game, but you win it,” he said. “Today you actually play really well and you don’t.”

The Royals lived the cliché: football is a funny old game, sometimes. But they no longer view simply hanging with the league’s elite as success.

“We want to compete,” Coenraets said. “We also want to win against the best.”

The blueprint is taking shape

Long before Utah climbed into the upper reaches of the standings, Coenraets spoke about building a blueprint for sustained success rather than chasing short-term results.

He believes Wednesday offered another step in that process.

“The last time we played them was the start of our blueprint,” he said. “Right now there is a blueprint, and we need to use it to see where the cracks are, what we have to improve as a team.”

Rather than viewing the loss as a setback, Coenraets saw confirmation that Utah’s identity is coming into focus.

“I think if you walk away from today, you see what needs to be better,” he said. “But you also see that a lot of it was good.”

Now they want to keep repeating what worked often enough to make it the norm.

“If something works,” Coenraets said, “just keep doing it.”

Another contender arrives

Portland presents another stern challenge.

The Thorns arrive after drawing Gotham FC 2-2 and currently average 1.59 goals per match while owning eight clean sheets this season. The clubs also played to an entertaining 2-2 draw in Portland on May 30th.

The Thorns have plenty of attacking quality.

Forward Sophia Smith, who scored the tying goal in that match on a 91st-minute penalty, leads the team with seven goals and two assists. Attacking midfielder and Utah native Olivia Moultrie, who scored Portland’s opener in that earlier meeting, is second with five goals and five assists.

Coenraets expects Sunday’s match to require another tactical adjustment.

Unlike Wednesday’s approach against Washington, he hinted the Royals will be more aggressive.

“We want to go at them,” he said. “I’m not holding back. It’s not because it’s the third game.”

The message to his players, and to everyone watching, is straightforward.

“We want to compete. We want to win.”

Staying together

The compressed schedule has made consistency difficult.

Wednesday marked Utah’s second three-match week of the season, with players still returning from injuries and international absences.

Coenraets says the squad needs more time together.

“We are a team that needs repetitions,” he said. “We are a team that needs to be on the pitch together in order to become better.”

That process continued against Washington despite the result.

Center backs Kate Del Fava and Kaleigh Riehl were reunited for the first time since May, while the Royals again generated sustained pressure through wide areas and limited one of the league’s most talented attacking sides to very little outside Rodman’s decisive moment.

The result stung.

The performance, however, reinforced that Utah belongs in these matches. Now Coenraets wants his team to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

“We want to compete,” Coenraets said. “We want to win.”

Match information

Who: Portland Thorns FC at Utah Royals FC

When: Sunday, Aug. 2 at 5:00 p.m. MT

Where: America First Field, Sandy

Tickets: Available through the Utah Royals website

Watch: NWSL+ (free streaming) following the league’s recent move away from Victory+ as a broadcast partner.

Listen: KSL Sports Radio 102.7 FM/1160 AM