Utah Royals Match Recap: Racing Louisville 5/17
- URFC Blog
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
Match Overview
Yes! We are doing SO well!! Utah had a beautiful game, and I really like the style of our play. The Royals had an amazing first half, which set them up well to recover from the 2nd-half not-so-happy little accident that led to Louisville's only goal. Our passing was quick, creative, and clean, and honestly I feel very fortunate 🍀 that the "Utah" style is one of the most enjoyable styles of football to watch.
Utah is now 2nd in the standings, just one point behind San Diego. This is the highest the Royals have ever been in the standings, and it's fully possible that we'll end up in first place at some point during this season. Utah also extended it's unbeaten streak to 8 games tonight, continuing to push the boundaries of the team's success.
Royal Buzz Vibe Check
Tana-killa 🗡️ : The center of the solar system
Honorary Goal for Lacasse 🏆
Starting XI
The only change in this week's starting XI was Paige Cronin in for Delzer on the right side. Cronin was still working up to full fitness, but she unfortunately had to leave the pitch early after an injury in the 42nd minute.
Substitutes
Minute | In | Out |
42' | Alexa Spaanstra | Paige Cronin |
68' | Cece Delzer | Cloe Lacasse |
69' | Lara Prasnikar | Kiana Palacios |
87' | Tatumn Milazzo | Janni Thomsen |
88' | Miyabi Moriya | Nuria Rabano |
A major difference in the substitutes this week came from Cronin's early departure, with Spaanstra coming in to take her place in the first half. I'm a bit surprised Delzer wasn't the choice for this substitute. With Spaanstra's loan expiring on July 31st, I'd expect Jimmy to invest more time into his longer-term squad. I do like Spaanstra, though, and I am happy she is getting some more development while in Utah. Hopefully, Utah will decide to buy her out-right from the Thorns during the summer break!
Another notable sub is Lara Prasnikar. Pranikar's last game for the Royals was in early April against Chicago, and it's great to see her fitting right back into the Royals' front line. I wouldn't be surprised to see her back in the starting lineup soon.
Match Analysis
Overall Flow
The Utah side started off with high intensity opening the first half on Sunday. Despite the cold, rainy weather, the Royals came out of the tunnel hot and ready to take control of the game. The first shot came in the 5th minute, starting a string of 3 goal-attempts in just 3 minutes.
The second half was a little more dicey for Utah, with Louisville outperforming us in intensity and ball control at the beginning of the second half. Unfortunately, a poorly placed pass in the backline led to a turnover and a skillful and, truthfully, stunning goal from Kayla Fischer. Utah stayed in it, though, regaining their press and stealing the momentum away form Louisville to finish out the second half.
KDF discussed this moment with the Attacking Third folks after the match, and she indicated that the team culture has a lot to do with this recovery. Everybody has each other's backs this year, meaning no one was blaming Ana for the mistake and everyone took it upon themselves to step up to get Utah back into the match. Coach Jimmy also accepts full accountability for these types of mistakes because it's a natural risk associated with his preferred play style. Mistakes are going to be made, and the mistake itself isn't nearly as important as the response to it.
Utah's ability to stay in the game after something like this is just another example of the team's growth this year. Last year, a blunder like this would have caused the team to break down and panic, leading to even more mistakes and goals against. This year, however, the Royals were able to stay calm and play their system, allowing them to recover quickly and make up for their mistakes.
Utah had an incredible match. With 65% possession and over 400 passes, the Royals were dancing around the pitch. Yes, Louisville is at the bottom of the table, but that's where everyone expected we'd be heading into this season (#underdogs). Take a look at how dominant Utah's performance was on Sunday.
Goals ⚽⚽
Lauren Milliet (22' - OG) [Lacasse*]
Utah fired off a total of 10 shots in the first half (more than in their entire game against Louisville), but the only first-half goal came from an own goal off Milliet in the 22nd minute. *Personally, I will be mentally overriding that information to award the goal to Lacasse, who was standing right behind Milliet and would have definitely tapped it in had the Louisville defender not gotten in the way. So, in my book, we have Cloe with the goal, Cronin with the assist, and an optimistic showing from Palacios leading the attack.
The play starts with Lacasse picking off a back pass and tipping it to Palacios, who slows down her charge to wait for help on the wings, giving her space to drop a through-line pass to Cronin. This is great from Palacios - great timing, great awareness, and great patience. I hope we can start to see more of this from her moving forward, and this is an optimistic sign that she's starting to gel better with her teammates. This play is also just really a testament to how amazing Paige is. There's no news yet on her injury, but hopefully she feels better soon 💌.
Mina Tanaka (77')
Can you say deja vu? This Delzer-assist/Tanaka-goal was almost identical to the goal Mina scored in her first game back against Washington Spirit earlier this year. In both goals, Delzer drove deep towards the endline on the right side of the goal, drawing in the defense and leaving Mina wide open in right in front of the goal. This week, Mina dropped behind her mark, Taylor Flint, who was distracted watching Delzer's run. This allowed Mina to float off her line and into space, leaving her in a sea of green at the top of the 6-yard box.
Player Highlights
Tanaka (FOTMOB Rating 7.7)
Mina Tanaka. I think she's officially my favorite Utah player. Mina's fluidity and eye for runs makes her the nucleus of the Royals. While she's technically an attacking mid, she's able to use her flexibility and speed to float around the pitch, fill in gaps, support the defense, make space, cover for others, and create chances in the offensive third. Coach Jimmy knows this and uses it to his advantage, indicating that Tanaka has earned a certain freedom, allowing her to get creative and glide across the pitch, collecting and feeding balls to everyone around her.
Thomsen (FOTMOB Rating 7.2)
Thomsen is another player Jimmy has indicated has the freedom to play the game with flexibility and creativity. She's become quite the offensive supporter, playing like a true winger running up and down the sides of the pitch. Her offensive contributions don't detract from her defensive abilities, though. Janni had three defensive tackles, two clearances, and six recoveries on Sunday, making her a well-rounded powerhouse the Royals will surely miss when she goes on parental leave later this season.
Homework for Next Week
We've got a rivalry game coming up against Denver on Saturday (more on that below), and Utah's going to need to pull out all the stops to make this a match to remember! With the Real Salt Lake supporters groups encouraging attendance to the Royals match to cheer on our side against Salt Lake City's biggest rivalry (in every sense, not just sports), this will be an opportunity for the Royals to showcase their skills to a broader audience.
In yesterday's post-match press conference, Coach Jimmy indicated that he doesn't care if it's pretty on Saturday, he just wants to see a win with the players doing their best. I disagree.. I think this is a huge opportunity for the Royals to showcase exactly who they are before heading into the summer break. As such, my homework for this week is to keep the focus on possession, passing, and finishing. These are the skills Utah needs to have on lock if they want to play some beautiful and unforgettable soccer.
Finishing is one of the biggest weaknesses we've shown the last couple of games. There have been multiple times recently where a player is driving at the box and takes a poorly-aimed, poorly-timed, or just plain weak shot. On average (median), Utah tends to get about 34% of our shots on target. This even got as high as 80% in our game against Agnel City. But yesterday? We were only at 22%, lowest on the season. With the way we've been playing, if we can improve this, and do so consistently, we'll easily stay above the playoff line all year.
Match | KC | SD | WAS | BOS | CHI | SEA | ACFC | HOU | BAY | LOU |
Score | L 2-1 | L 2-1 | D 1-1 | W 2-1 | W 1-0 | W 3-0 | W 1-0 | W 2-0 | D 0-0 | W 2-1 |
Shots on Target | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
Shots | 13 | 7 | 18 | 7 | 26 | 14 | 5 | 22 | 6 | 18 |
Percent on Target | 31% | 43% | 22% | 43% | 38% | 36% | 80% | 32% | 30% | 22% |
Next Match
The Royals take on Denver Summit at home this Saturday at 4:30 PM. The Throne will be hosting their matchday potluck starting at 2:00 in the north parking lot (just off 90th South). Note the early tailgate time! Time for grillin' 🔥
Denver Summit Analytical Overview
Don't let the expansion team label fool you. Denver's 12 goals on the season put them just three behind the league-leading Spirit and Portland Thorns. This is an attacking team, full stop. Head coach Nick Cushing has been clear about the team's identity from day one: "We're an attacking team, and we'll go and attack everybody." He means it. Denver plays a possession-forward, press-heavy style that prioritizes moving the ball quickly into dangerous areas and finishing with clinical efficiency. While they don't always win-out on the possession metric, they definitely play better when they do.
The biggest threat? Natasha Flint, who has three goals and two assists through seven matches and is doing her best work when she "just goes for it" - cutting into space, linking with runners, and creating chaos in tight windows. Melissa Kössler and Janine Sonis also have four goals on the season, making Denver a team with genuinely distributed scoring threats. Their most recent results says it all: a dominant 3-1 demolition of Orlando Pride (following a 4-1 win against Houston) at home, with two goals from Sonis and one from Gaetino. This is a team that just woke up.
What to Watch For
Here's the fascinating tension in this matchup: Denver wants to push the tempo and attack, and Utah's identity right now is built around disrupting exactly that. The Royals' franchise-record 468-minute shutout streak wasn't built by sitting back, it was built through pressure, shape, and physicality in the midfield. Denver will test that in a way Bay FC and Racing Louisville didn't. Because Summit presses with constant pressure and intensity, Utah won't be able to just sit back and absorb the attack. Both teams want to press, but only one of them is going to win that battle, and it'll likely determine the result. Watch Flint and Kössler closely. If we can't keep them from turning and driving, it's going to be a long night.
Will We Win?
Denver is more dangerous than their record suggests, and they're coming in with serious momentum. Denver is in 7th place right now, and so far, we've only played three teams in the top eight, and we haven't won against any of them.
Those three games were the first three games of our season, though, and now that the Royals are up and running at the top of their game (cough) Mina (cough), we have a genuine chance. We're at home, and this Royals squad is genuinely one of the best stories in the league right now. 👑
Mina is my favorite too!