# 2019 Utah Royals FC season

The 2019 Utah Royals FC season marks the team's second year of existence and its second season in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of the American soccer pyramid.
In an effort to improve on the team's 5th place finish in 2018, the Royals signed former Spanish international and Spain's all-time leading scorer Vero Boquete for the 2019 season.
Utah encountered numerous injury problems to start the season as both Brittany Ratcliffe and Taylor Lytle suffered season ending injuries before the season began. Canadian international Diana Matheson suffered a toe injury with the Canadian National Team which would require surgery, this injury would also force her to miss the World Cup. To help deal with these absences, Utah claimed Mallory Weber off waivers from the Portland Thorns FC.
Six members of the Royals would miss games due to their participation at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O'Hara and Christen Press for the United States, Desiree Scott for Canada, Katie Bowen for New Zealand and Rachel Corsie for Scotland.
The Royals would lose another player at the end of June as defender Samantha Johnson announced her retirement from professional soccer.
Defender Kelley O'Hara suffered an ankle injury during the first USWNT victory tour match on August 3, she would miss the remainer of Utah's season due to this injury.
On August 14, Royals forward Christen Press was named NWSL Player of the Week for Week 17, this was the first time a player on the Utah Royals had received this award. Press was also named Player of the Month for August, which was also a first for the club.
The Royals were eliminated from playoff contention on September 28 after their fourth consecutive loss.
Utah defender Becky Sauerbrunn was named 2019 NWSL Defender of the Year, this was her fourth time winning the award, as she had previously won it three times while playing for FC Kansas City.

## Competitions
### NWSL Regular Season
#### Overall Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | North Carolina Courage (C) | 24 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 54 | 23 | +31 | 49 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | Chicago Red Stars | 24 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 41 | 28 | +13 | 44 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 3 | Portland Thorns FC | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 40 | 31 | +9 | 40 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 4 | Reign FC | 24 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 38 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 5 | Washington Spirit | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 30 | 25 | +5 | 34 | |
| 6 | Utah Royals FC | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 34 | |
| 7 | Houston Dash | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 21 | 36 | −15 | 26 | |
| 8 | Sky Blue FC | 24 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 20 | 34 | −14 | 20 | |
| 9 | Orlando Pride | 24 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 24 | 53 | −29 | 16 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| Pld | Pts | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD |
| 24 | 34 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 13 | −3 |
Last updated: October 12, 2019 Source: NWSL Results Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Ground | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | D | L | L | D | L | L | W | W | W | D | W | L | L | L | L | W |
| Position | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
* ↑ UTA's position at the end of the matchweek not the match itself.

#### Match results
##### October
## Stats

    As of October 12, 2019

## Honors and awards

    As of October 24, 2019.

### NWSL awards
#### Best XI

| Player | Position | Ref |
| Becky Sauerbrunn | Defender | |
| Christen Press | Forward | |

#### Second XI

| Player | Position | Ref |
| Kelley O'Hara | Defender | |

### NWSL Monthly Awards
#### NWSL Player of the Month

| Month | Result | Player | Ref. |
| August | Won | Christen Press | |

#### NWSL Team of the Month

| Month | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| April | Becky Sauerbrunn | | Christen Press |
| May | Rachel Corsie | Vero Boquete | Amy Rodriguez |
| June | | | Amy Rodriguez |
| August | | Lo'eau LaBonta | Christen Press Amy Rodriguez |

### NWSL Weekly Awards
#### NWSL Player of the Week

| Week | Result | Player | Ref. |
| 17 | Won | Christen Press | |

#### NWSL Goal of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 2 | Nominated | Lo'Eau LaBonta |
| 3 | Nominated | Christen Press |
| 4 | Nominated | Amy Rodriguez |
| 5 | Nominated | Amy Rodriguez |
| 6 | Nominated | Amy Rodriguez |
| 7 | Nominated | Makenzy Doniak |
| 9 | Won | Amy Rodriguez |
| 14 | Won | Christen Press |
| 15 | Won | Christen Press |
| 17 | Won | Amy Rodriguez |
| 18 | Won | Christen Press |
| 21 | Won | Becky Sauerbrunn |
| 25 | Nominated | Amy Rodriguez |

#### NWSL Save of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 3 | Nominated | Nicole Barnhart |
| 4 | Nominated | Nicole Barnhart |
| 7 | Nominated | Nicole Barnhart |
| 10 | Nominated | Nicole Barnhart |
| 13 | Nominated | Nicole Barnhart |
| 16 | Nominated | Nicole Barnhart |
| 21 | Won | Nicole Barnhart |
| 24 | Nominated | Nicole Barnhart |

## Club
### Roster

* Age calculated as of the start of the 2019 season.
    As of August 5, 2019
| No. | Name | Nationality | Positions | Date of birth (age) | Signed from | Year with club (year signed) |
| 1 | Abby Smith | United States | GK | (1993-10-04)October 4, 1993 (aged 25) | Boston Breakers | 2 (2018) |
| 2 | Rachel Corsie | Scotland | DF | (1989-08-17)August 17, 1989 (aged 29) | Seattle Reign | 2 (2018) |
| 3 | Rebecca Moros | United States | DF | (1985-05-06)May 6, 1985 (aged 33) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 4 | Becky Sauerbrunn | United States | DF | (1985-06-06)June 6, 1985 (aged 33) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 5 | Kelley O'Hara | United States | DF | (1988-08-04)August 4, 1988 (aged 30) | Sky Blue FC | 2 (2018) |
| 6 | Katie Bowen | New Zealand | DF | (1994-04-15)April 15, 1994 (aged 24) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 7 | Mandy Laddish | United States | MF | (1992-05-13)May 13, 1992 (aged 26) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 8 | Amy Rodriguez | United States | FW | (1987-02-17)February 17, 1987 (aged 32) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 9 | Lo'eau LaBonta | United States | MF | (1993-03-18)March 18, 1993 (aged 26) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 10 | Diana Matheson | Canada | MF | (1984-04-06)April 6, 1984 (aged 35) | Seattle Reign FC | 2 (2018) |
| 11 | Desiree Scott | Canada | MF | (1987-07-31)July 31, 1987 (aged 31) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 12 | Taylor Lytle | United States | MF | (1989-03-31)March 31, 1989 (aged 30) | Sky Blue FC | 2 (2018) |
| 13 | Makenzy Doniak | United States | FW | (1994-02-25)February 25, 1994 (aged 25) | North Carolina Courage | 2 (2018) |
| 14 | Gaby Vincent | United States | DF | (1997-12-07)December 7, 1997 (aged 21) | University of Louisville | 1 (2019) |
| 15 | Erika Tymrak | United States | MF | (1991-08-07)August 7, 1991 (aged 27) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 17 | Sydney Miramontez | United States | DF | (1994-10-11)October 11, 1994 (aged 24) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 18 | Nicole Barnhart | United States | GK | (1981-10-10)October 10, 1981 (aged 37) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 19 | Michelle Maemone | United States | DF | (1997-03-18)March 18, 1997 (aged 22) | Pepperdine University | 1 (2019) |
| 20 | Mallory Weber | United States | FW | (1994-04-04)April 4, 1994 (aged 25) | Portland Thorns FC | 1 (2019) |
| 21 | Verónica Boquete | Spain | FW | (1987-04-09)April 9, 1987 (aged 32) | Beijing BG Phoenix | 1 (2019) |
| 22 | Madeline Nolf | United States | DF | (1996-03-29)March 29, 1996 (aged 23) | Penn State University | 1 (2019) |
| 23 | Christen Press | United States | FW | (1988-12-29)December 29, 1988 (aged 30) | Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC | 2 (2018) |
| 24 | Katie Stengel | United States | FW | (1992-02-29)February 29, 1992 (aged 27) | Boston Breakers | 2 (2018) |
| 25 | Brittany Ratcliffe | United States | FW | (1994-02-07)February 7, 1994 (aged 25) | FC Kansas City | 2 (2018) |
| 42 | Raisa Strom-Okimoto | United States | FW | | University of Hawaii | 1 (2019) |
| 66 | Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir | Iceland | MF | (1988-09-28)September 28, 1988 (aged 30) | Vålerenga | 2 (2018) |
| | Melissa Lowder | United States | GK | | Santa Clara University | 1 (2019) |

## Player Transactions

    As of August 3, 2019

### Transfers In

| Player | Position | Previous Club | Fees/Notes | Date |
| Verónica Boquete | MF | Beijing BG Phoenix | Signed | 01/04/19 |
| Gaby Vincent | DF | University of Louisville | Signed | 04/17/19 |
| Mallory Weber | FW | Portland Thorns FC | Acquired off the NWSL Waiver Wire | 05/13/19 |
| Raisa Strom-Okimoto | DF | University of Hawaii | Signed | 07/26/19 |
| Melissa Lowder | GK | Santa Clara University | Signed | 07/26/19 |

### Transfers Out

| Player | Position | Next Club | Fees/Notes | Date |
| Alex Arlitt | DF | unattached | option declined | 10/01/18 |
| Katrina Gorry | MF | Brisbane Roar | option declined | 10/01/18 |
| Elise Thorsnes | FW | LSK Kvinner | option declined | 10/01/18 |
| Samantha Johnson | DF | retired | | 06/28/19 |

### 2019 NWSL College Draft

    Source: National Women's Soccer League
| Round | Pick | Player | Pos. | Previous Team |
| Round 3 | 23 | Michelle Maemone | D | Pepperdine |
| Round 3 | 26 | Madeline Nolf | D | Penn State |
| Round 4 | 32 | Alexandra Kimball | M | North Carolina |