Know Your Opponent | Utah Royals FC

Who’s Hot 

All six of Utah’s inaugural season goals have come from six different players but two Royals’ have one assist apiece to their stats sheets as well. Diana Matheson who was traded to Utah from Seattle, where she never made an appearance due to an ACL injury, scratched a tally onto the sheet in the Royals’ last home game against the Spirit with her first goal since 2016. Matheson also played a key part in Utah’s inaugural match against The Pride with an assist to open the scoring on the match in her first game back. 

Amy Rodriguez, also fresh off of an injury, has been anything but silent on her quest back to regular form. Rodriguez missed the entire 2016 season due to pregnancy. She then suffered a season-ending injury in her 2017 debut after netting FCKC’s first goal of the match. Rodriguez is now just four games in with two starts and has earned herself an assist and a goal.

Who’s Not

The Royals’ have struggled to keep their leads in their previous matches. Although their defense showed up big on Saturday, they have yet to face the Pride since the return of our National Team players. There isn’t much time for them to bask in the glory of making club history as the entire Pride team, sans Camila, heads to RioT Stadium.

Recent Team Form

For only being around for a couple months and a handful of matches Utah is doing quite alright for themselves. With their six different goal scorers, they’ve shown that they have depth in the attacking position. They’re coming off of their first win in franchise history after taking down The Spirit 2-0 over the weekend. The Royals are also on a three-game undefeated streak with only one loss on the season.

Head-to-Head

The Pride are 0-0-1 all-time against the Royals with the most recent meeting being in Utah’s inaugural game at Orlando City Stadium. This time the Pride are heading to Rio Tinto to take on the newest kids on the block.

Note: The Pride went undefeated against FCKC* in the 2017 season run.