Utah Royals Match Recaps: Washington Spirit & Boston Legacy

Match Overviews

The Utah Royals showed some significant improvements last week, getting their first win of the season against Boston and tying with Washington Spirit, putting us 10th in the standings.

Starting with the Washington Spirit, the Player of the Match was the steady brick wall of Mia Justus. With kick-saves and dives, Justus kept the Royals in the game long enough to see some Mina Magic in Tanaka's first first minutes of 2026. The Royals were the better team against the Washington side on March 25th, largely owing to the incredible work from Justus.

Just 3 days later on March 28th, the Royals played their 3rd game in a week against Boston Legacy, an expansion team with 0 goals and no wins heading into the match. In a game marked by close calls, 7 yellows, a penalty, and a retroactive red, the referees did their best to steal the spotlight.

Royal Review Vibe Check:

• Royal Roster: We're [almost] back baby!

  
  

• Foul Fouls: Controversy and mixed opinions?

  
  

• Goals, goals, goals: Utah Royals continues it's 13-match goal-scoring streak!

Roster and Lineup Comparisons

Washington Spirit

Boston Legacy

With three games in one week, Coach Jimmy had to make some strategic lineup decisions to make the most of rotation and fresh legs. The Boston lineup is likely closer to what we can expect to see for the starting XI with Mina Tanaka and Miyabi Moriya back from the AFC Women's Asian Cup. Other notable changes include starting Spaanstra (typically a forward, but previous season heat maps indicate she has a LOT of versatility), pulling Riehl, and putting Prasnikar in at the 9. Pierre-Louis has also worked her way into the starting lineup, but we will have to see what changes might be coming in the next couple months as Narumi and Hammond get back to full fitness.

Half-Full or Half-Empty?

The Case for Half-Full

• Justus is a KEEPER: Mia Justus has been incredible for Utah while stepping in for Mandy, and it's great to know that we have a backup keeper that could arguably be in competition for the starting role. While I do miss Mandy's distribution (Mia struggles with inaccurate long passes up the pitch), I've been very impressed with Justus' shot-stopping abilities.

Connection and Cohesion: The team is also starting to gel. Throughout the last couple of games, you could see some glimmers of fast, neat passing (Japanese style, anyone?), and it's exciting to see the cohesion coming together. We're also excelling at set-pieces (corners, free kicks, penalties) with 3/5 of our goals coming from dead ball opportunities.

Shots, Shots, Shots, Everybody!: In a VAST improvement over the previous two games, the Royals are starting to get into the box, leading to higher xG shots. Just take a look at how many shots in the box the Royals had against Washington.

Shot Map: Royals vs. Spirit (from Fotmob)

The Case for Half-Empty

• Shots?: The story changed for the Legacy game, however, and the Royals only had 7 shots.

Shot Map: Royals vs. Legacy (from Fotmob)

• Pass Accuracy: The Royals' passing accuracy is inconsistent and concerning. The midfield in the Legacy game was a hot mess, with turnover after turnover leading to players scrambling to maintain possession.

  
  

• (Close) Calls: Another comment regarding the Boston game. Side note: even though we won, and were the better team in many ways, we still played pretty poorly against the bottom team in the table. We also gave the expansion club their first ever NWSL goal (oops). Anywayyyys, back to the refereeing. There's a lot of room for debate on many of the calls last week. Frankly, even if the plays in question weren't fouls, they were very close, and we are incredibly lucky we didn't get those called against us. We need cleaner play, especially in our defending third.

Player Highlights

Mia Justus

Mia Justus was nominated for another save of the week this week for one of her kick saves against Washington. I'll leave it at that since I've already highlighted her so much in this post!

Cece Delzer

Delzer has seriously stood up to the task this year. Delzer wasn't a regular starter after she was traded to the Royals in the beginning of the 2025 season, but she's been putting in WORK this year. Delzer has been front-footed and proactive, and has kept her eye open for critical opportunities like the one above. I love seeing her commitment and passion on the pitch.

Mina Tanaka

In addition to scoring that goal with the assist from Cece above, Mina had another close chance just a few minutes later in the same match, after she came on as a sub in her first match back in 2026. While offsides, it looked almost identical to this one, with another cross from Cece, but it was ultimately called offsides. Mina also created a penalty chance by drawing a foul in the box, leading to Prasnikar's game winner against Boston.

Looking Ahead

The Royals are back at home Friday, and will be playing against Chicago Stars. We should be expecting a win tomorrow, since Chicago has 1 win, 3 losses, and only 2 goals this season. Chicago also tends to struggle away from home, so this is a chance for Utah to capitalize on last week's momentum.

Match Preview

• Next Fixture: The Royals will face off against the Chicago Stars Friday, April 3rd at 7 PM.

• Match Day Highlights:

  
  

  • Join the URFC Throne-Sponsored community potluck at the tailgate in the North at 5:30 before the game! Follow The Throne on Instagram to stay updated about supporters-group events.

  • Diaper drive:

• Easter Egg Hunt:

• What to Expect: Chicago struggled significantly last season, ending up last in the table. They don't seem to have turned things around, yet, and a new coach has recently joined the team, but has yet to make an impact. The defensive build up is unreliable for Chicago, leading to lots of lobs with hopes of connecting to someone ready to make a break-away run. The Royals will have to watch their high-press to make sure the defensive line doesn't get beat on a sprint for goal. With a mirrored 4-2-3-1 and midfield struggles for both teams, the center of the pitch will either be another web of unwatchable turnovers, or will be exploited by the more coordinated, intentional, and in-control team (hopefully the Royals).

• Royals Injury Report:

• Previous Record: Utah has beat Chicago 1 time, tied them once, and lost twice since the Royals rejoined the league in 2024.

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