Utah Royals send off 2025 season, 3 retiring teammates with 1-0 win over Washington

(ksl.com 11-2-25)

Sunday evening's season finale provided Utah Royals FC a chance to celebrate the past, including the retirement of three key members of the squad's return to the Wasatch Front three years ago.

It also may have given a glimpse into the NWSL side's future.

Paige Monaghan scored her fifth goal of the season, and Mandy McGlynn made three saves to make it stand up as the Royals wrapped up the 2025 season with a 1-0 win over the Washington Spirit.

"The togetherness of this team was everything," Monaghan said. "I'm just so grateful to be their teammate; it was such an honor."

Lara Prasnikar — the 27-year-old midseason addition Slovenia — delivered quickly in her debut start for the Royals, finding No. 4 in the fourth minute to set up Monaghan's fifth goal of the season and give Utah a 1-0 lead.

It's the second straight match with a goal for Monaghan, who had a goal or an assist in five consecutive matches that paced the Royals' club-record eight-match unbeaten streak midway through August and September.

If there's something to build on the Royals' 7-13-7 season, it's Monaghan and her career-best five goals — as many as the previous two years combined.

Through the second half of the season, Utah finished with 10 results in the final 13 matches.

"We feel like if we can keep this momentum going, we can be a playoff contender," Utah coach Jimmy Coenraets said.

"Hitting rock bottom is OK; it gives us a great foundation to end on," he added.

It was also the year of Monaghan, who arrived in Utah via the now-defunct NWSL expansion draft as an occasional goal scorer — nine goals and an assist in four seasons with Sky Blue/Gotham FC and Racing Louisville — and became a pivotal member of the Royals' attack, a team captain and the second-leading scorer on the team.

What started as a season on the mend from a broken foot ended with a career year: five goals, two assists in over 1,000 minutes played across 16 matches, including 14 starts.

"The belief that my teammates and coaching staff had in me, that goes a long way," Monaghan said of her campaign. "For me, I'm a repetition player; that's what made me good in college, what helped give me experience and exposure, what led me to U23 camp and to get drafted.

"I've been craving that so long in my career, but it's just something that lacked," she added. "This year, the Royals made hires that helped me do what I need to do every single week to get ready for the weekends."

Most of the announced crowd of 9.170 fans weren't there for the win-loss record, too.

In a game that was meaningless in the 14-team NWSL standings — Washington entered Sunday afternoon locked into the No. 2 seed for the playoffs, while Utah had been eliminated from the postseason and was stranded at No. 12 — Spirit coach Adrian Gonzalez started two of the state's natives in midfielder Heather Stainbrook and attacker Courtney Brown.

Brown had more than 100 friends and family on hand to see the former Fremont High and Utah midfielder's 15th match of the season, which she started before a halftime substitution.

Stainbrook, the former Alta High star who was Utah Valley's all-time goal scorer when she graduated in 2023, went the distance for the Spirit.

The Royals, too, had their own celebrations to attend — their own flowers to hand out. Imani Dorsey, who came to the newly relaunched club as a free agent following the 2023 season, played the final match of her seven-year career.

The sixth player signed in Utah's relaunched history made her first appearance since Sept. 6 in a second-half sub.

But the biggest ovation came for Claudia Zornoza, the 35-year-old Spaniard who played the final match in her 17-year career that included stops with Real Madrid and the European Champions League prior to her final two seasons in the NWSL.

The Royals also honored former BYU defender Olivia (Smith) Griffitts, who retired this season following the berth of her first child, a daughter with former BYU football tight end Kyle Griffitts.

"All players with completely different personalities," Coenraets said of the three retirees, adding that he and Monaghan wanted Zornoza to wear the captain's armband but the Spaniard declined. "If you look back on Claudia's career, there aren't a lot of players in this league who present what she presents.

"Imani is probably one of the most intelligent players I've ever worked with," he added. "I'm very grateful that I was able to work with them; I hope I added something to their career, but I'm 100% certain they added something to my career."

https://www.ksl.com/article/51399278/utah-royals-send-off-2025-season-3-retiring-teammates-with-1-0-win-over-washington

Utah Royals 1st NWSL team to 10 losses this season after falling 4-1 to Seattle

(by Caleb Turner ksl.com 6-21-25)

Based on the postgame mood, you wouldn't have guessed the Utah Royals had just lost their 10th game of the season.

The NWSL's last-place squad reached the midpoint of its season with a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Reign in its 13th game of the year Saturday at America First Field.

The home team was outmatched from wire-to-wire against the top-five team from Washington, giving up goals in the sixth, 16th, 66th and 91st minutes.

For a brief moment near the end of the first half, it looked like a comeback could be underway when Bianca St-Georges scored her third goal of the season for Utah, but it wasn't to be.

The goal, which moved St-Georges into a tie with Brecken Mozingo for the team lead in goals, was the only one in the cards for the Royals on Saturday, despite leading the visiting team 14-10 in total shots.

The Royals enter the midseason break on an eight-game winless streak and a four-game losing streak, with the next league fixture not until Aug. 3. But still, a sense of optimism and belief remained with players and coach during press conference comments.

Perhaps it's because the break gives the team time to recover from a brutal start to the season that featured two season-ending injuries and take another step in building "from the bottom out," as head coach Jimmy Coenraets described it.

"Make sure you kind of just detach from the game and you get some time by yourself," Coenraets said of his advice to players heading into the break. "I just want everyone to come back in the best possible headspace."

The real reason for the optimism, however, is likely because Utah is approaching this season as one piece of a much larger puzzle. Coenraets said that since the Miller family took over team ownership in April, he has felt supported in building a foundation for what he called "a sustainable future."

"Ever since the change, there was one clear message, and that's, 'Let's build a foundation, and let's build upon the foundation that we are building the next six months,'" Coenraets said. "We want to be competitive as much as we can, but we also want to make sure that by being competitive, we're actually building for the future and not giving up the future to just get results."

Utah will play a pair of friendlies against the San Diego Wave to break up the month-long break and several Royals will continue playing games with their respective national teams, including Ally Sentnor and Mandy McGlynn with the USWNT and Janni Thomsen joining Denmark for the UEFA Women's Euro tournament.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51333558/utah-royals-1st-nwsl-team-to-10-losses-this-season-after-falling-4-1-to-seattle

Ugly ass logo

I gave credit where credit was due with RSL's new "Beehive" uniform. At the same time however I need to talk crap when it is warranted, and this new Royals logo warrants crap talk.

What an ugly logo, it seriously looks like some kid drew it. The original was better.

What does it matter though I guess, I'm never going to go to any of their games. 

RSL's women's pro team to be named Utah Royals FC

(by Josh Furlong ksl.com 12-1-17)

Utah’s newest professional soccer team, Real Salt Lake’s National Women’s Soccer League, has a new name: Utah Royals FC.

The name, which was announced early Friday morning by RSL, is the final piece to the puzzle for the new women’s team, who earlier in the week named their head coach Laura Harvey. The name and its logo hints to several aspects of the RSL identity.  The logo, which continues with the club’s Claret Red, Cobalt Blue and Victory Gold colors, features the lioness with a crown and Utah’s Delicate Arch.  The club said its inaugural home and away NIKE jerseys will be released in the coming weeks, prior to the Jan. 18 NWSL college draft. The names of front office personnel will also be released at this time. T-shirts with the new logo will be available at both RSL team stores Saturday, Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. The Utah Royals FC will open up its season on Saturday, April 14 at Rio Tinto Stadium in the NWSL’s sixth season. The NWSL is a ten-team women’s professional soccer league, including teams Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, Houston Dash, North Carolina Courage, Orlando Pride, Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, Sky Blue FC and the Washington Spirit.

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https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46208902&nid=857&title=rsls-womens-pro-team-to-be-named-utah-royals-fc

Real Salt Lake-backed women's pro team designed to be community-driven franchise

(by Sean Walker ksl.com 11-16-17)

When Jennifer Rockwood first arrived in Utah to lead the club version of what would eventually become the BYU women’s soccer team, girls soccer in Utah didn’t even exist at the high school level.

Fast forward to 2017, and the state boasts six Division I college teams, two Division II teams, the two-time top-ranked team in the nation by USA Today HS Sports, and hundreds of thriving club teams. As of Thursday, Utah boasts a top-flight professional women’s team in the National Women’s Soccer League, which Rockwood and her team were present to witness as Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen formally introduced the new club to more than 100 fans, supporters, coaches, administrators and media at a press conference at Rio Tinto Stadium. “This is a huge announcement and we are so excited to have our sport that we love so much at the next level,” said Rockwood, who has coached 22 All-Americans and seven MAC Hermann Trophy award nominees. “There will be a bunch of amazing players and role models for young kids, the same that we try to do at BYU. But this takes it to a whole new level.

"Now my girls have more of a dream to play at the next level.”

The excitement came from within the RSL organization, too. "It's been a dream of mine for seven years," Hansen said. "When I got to RSL … I was much more versed in women's soccer than the men's game. It always felt like we needed fairness. We needed to make sure that we got a pro franchise here in Utah, and we moved very quickly." Thursday’s announcement was brought by a beaming Hansen sitting next to other RSL club administrators, like general manager Craig Waibel, chief business operator Andy Carroll and political luminaries like Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and outgoing Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan.

But the biggest impact of the new team will be felt in the community of women’s soccer in Utah, Hansen said.

“To me, this will be their rallying point,” said the Cache Valley native, who has seven daughters. “If you are a man, you can watch the Utes or BYU football or drag races — but I think that for a lot of women, this will be their epicenter. I don’t think it takes a lot of research to think that we need that rallying point in Utah.” NWSL managing director Amanda Duffy came to the league from her previous post with Louisville City FC in the second-division United Soccer League, and she’s seen success from smaller-to-mid-market clubs like Portland, Seattle and New Jersey-based Sky Blue FC. “The community really rallied behind that team (in Louisville), and supports it in a unique way. It’s a community-driven team, and that’s what I see happening here,” Duffy said.

“It’s the community, and having that support behind this women’s team in a way that I think is going to be unique and special and these players and for the league as a whole.”

The new club, whose name, crest and colors will be announced soon, will play its inaugural season at Rio Tinto Stadium in time for the first kick of the 2017 NWSL season. RSL will inherit the club currently known as FC Kansas City, which has been involved in numerous ownership disputes since winning back-to-back NWSL championships in 2014 and 2015. Neither RSL officials nor Duffy would confirm if the club was relocating from Kansas City, folding an existing franchise while adding another one, or some combination of the two. But they did say the NWSL’s 2018 season would begin play with 10 teams across all four time zones — the same number as played in 2017.

“Kansas City is an ongoing conversation that is separate from this,” Duffy told KSL.com.

“We’re continuing to work with that ownership to discuss their status and plans for the future in NWSL. We didn’t want to take anything away from RSL and the wonderful opportunity it is for our league.”

Multiple sources confirmed to KSL.com that the new team will take Kansas City’s spot in the league, though the exact mechanism whereby the move will be made is yet to be determined.

Real Salt Lake becomes the fourth MLS team to back an NWSL program, joining the Portland Timbers, Houston Dynamo and Orlando City SC. The backing from the MLS contingent of NWSL was crucial in getting a deal done for Salt Lake in just 15 days. Just as important was the voice of approval from an unlikely source, at least among RSL fan circles — Timbers owner Merritt Paulson, who also owns the Portland Thorns FC.

“The MLS owners that we have were able to recognize Dell Loy and his team, and they spent a lot of time with Merritt and the group in Portland,” Duffy said.

“Who better to learn from than those who are doing it the right way?”

Waibel admitted that the club’s plan to add a professional women’s franchise was always in the cards since the day he was named club technical director, and later general manager. But he credited Hansen for making the dream a reality so fast — two weeks later, and at least two years ahead of schedule.

“This was always part of the plan,” Waibel said.

“We’re a few years early, but that’s an awesome problem to have. It’s a great issue to deal with when your owner has the ambition that Dell Loy does.” With Division I programs from Provo to Logan, and college soccer programs ranging from St. George to Ephraim and everywhere in between, Utah seems a natural fit for professional women’s soccer. And it gives the burgeoning community an added level of motivation.

“When I was growing up, people would ask me what I wanted to do and I would always say I wanted to be a professional soccer player,” said BYU defender Taylor Campbell Isom, who will enter the NWSL draft in January. “The fact that there was no league was sad to me. But Amanda has done a great job of sustaining this national league, and the fact that my dream is now within my grasp is very exciting.”

Waibel said the team will strive to ingrain itself in the local community, even holding local tryouts for potential players in the organization. RSL’s semipro outfit Real Salt Lake Women will also be involved, though likely as a reserve team or feeder organization for the NWSL club.

The league has not made a formal decision about FC Kansas City, but one source confirmed that the players will likely be given the option of playing in Salt Lake City under the new franchise. Among Kansas City’s roster are U.S. internationals Sydney Leroux Dwyer, Becky Sauerbrunn and Amy Rodriguez. Among the other stars of the league are Houston’s Kealia Ohai, who prepped at Alta High School in Sandy, and former BYU star Ashley Hatch, the 2017 NWSL rookie of the year at North Carolina. The new team could try to find a permanent home of its own, or it could stay at Rio Tinto Stadium — especially with RSL’s second-division side Real Monarchs set to move into the club’s brand-new, multimillion-dollar training facility in Herriman. And if Hansen has his way, Rio Tinto Stadium will fill up with fans of the “other” soccer team in Sandy.

“We’re not going to build a small stadium because they are going to fill a big stadium,” Hansen said.

“We’ve got four months, and we want everyone to recruit their friends. When we open in April, I want to show that we have the loudest, rowdiest team (in NWSL). “We’ll be successful. I don’t even blink at that.”

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https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46199780&nid=857&title=real-salt-lake-backed-womens-pro-team-designed-to-be-community-driven-franchise