SANDY — In Utah Royals FC’s season opener clear back on March 24 against the Orlando Pride, URFC scored in the third minute to take the early lead but had to settle for a 1-1 draw thanks to an incorrect handball call that resulted in a Pride penalty kick.
On Saturday night as the two sides met for the third and final time of the regular season at Rio Tinto Stadium, a similar scene played out.
Amy Rodriguez scored for the home team in the eighth minute, but just before halftime, Gunny Jonsdottir was questionably penalized for holding Orlando’s Alanna Kennedy in the box on a corner kick that shouldn’t have been awarded, and Alex Morgan buried the ensuing penalty kick to tie things up.
Unlike in March, however, Utah gave up an additional goal Saturday in the 52nd minute as the Pride’s Kristen Edmonds got free on a ball over the top. Instead of challenging URFC goalkeeper Abby Smith, Edmonds fired a high-arcing shot from deep since Smith was off her line.
The ball bounced right into the goal, giving Orlando a 2-1 lead, which wound up being the final score in what was a wild, messy and emotional contest.
For a Utah team that has fought to stay in playoff contention, Saturday’s loss marked its third in eight days, and the manner in which it happened brought out anger in head coach Laura Harvey postgame.
“It’s hard to sit here every week and watch a performance like that off a referee and not acknowledge it,” Harvey said in criticism of lead official Reyna Fonseca, particularly on the penalty kick. “Like, this is my job. I could get fired over that result, but nothing’s going to happen to her, and it’s every week, stuff like this.”
Noting the Wednesday suspension of Diana Matheson on because of a tackle last Friday against Portland, Harvey rhetorically asked Saturday, “What are we doing? It’s just hard work to sit here and not say anything about it, honestly...people keep telling me that it’s going to be OK. I don’t know when that changes.”
After the penalty, both Harvey and players acknowledged, URFC didn’t recover mentally.
I think we’re actually just looking forward to a week at home where we can regroup, rebuild and actually work on things and find a rhythm again. We will do that. – Royals defender Rachel Corsie
“I think it’s fair to say it’s pretty low,” defender Rachel Corsie said of team morale postgame. “I think the goal just before halftime was really tough to take. It’s been a tough week, and when those things go against you, it can hit you maybe harder. We have to try to respond better than we did...it’s disappointing, but we’ll keep playing.”
Harvey called the second goal “a mistake by Abby. Too high. Not sure where she’s going, really. One that she needs to look back on. I say it a lot, but you’ve got to let defenders defend, and if she let defenders defend, that goal doesn’t go in.”
Twenty minutes following the goal, Smith was replaced by Nicole Barnhart after a collision brought her to the ground.
Despite the slump, Corsie vowed her team would rebound, although that task won’t be easy given that Utah’s opponent next Friday is the North Carolina Courage, by far the best side in the NWSL.
“I think we’re actually just looking forward to a week at home where we can regroup, rebuild and actually work on things and find a rhythm again,” she said. “We will do that.”
While URFC is now seven points back of the fourth and final playoff spot with seven games to go, Corsie maintained that the postseason is the team’s goal.
“I think it’s close enough at the moment in and around the middle of the table that I think right up until the end, all teams will be fighting for playoff spots, and we want to be a part of that,” she said. “That’s our goal. That’s what we’re fighting for, and that’s what we want.”