There’s not much sugarcoating it: Utah Royals FC’s Wednesday night game on the road against Washington-based Reign FC is absolutely massive, and URFC could be in rough shape come first kick.
With four games to go in the regular season for both teams, each squad sits with 31 points and in fourth place in the National Women’s Soccer League table. Given that four of the nine NWSL teams make the playoffs, Wednesday’s outcome could go a long way in determining which squad will reach the postseason.
As a heavy dose of potentially bad news for a URFC team that often struggles to score, the team could end up being without its two most important offensive players. U.S. Women’s National Team forward Christen Press is listed as doubtful because of a left leg injury, and midfield playmaker Vero Boquete is questionable because of a left thigh injury.
Wednesday’s game appears to be even more crucial for URFC given the remaining three opponents on its schedule moving forward compared to the trio of teams Reign FC has.
After Wednesday, URFC will play the NWSL-best and defending champion North Carolina Courage (Sept. 21), the second-place Chicago Red Stars (Sept. 28) and the seventh-place Houston Dash (Oct. 12), a team it lost to 2-1 last Friday.
Reign FC, on the other hand, has eighth-place Sky Blue FC (Sept. 21) and the league-worst Orlando Pride (Oct. 12), with third-place Portland Thorns FC sandwiched in the middle on Sept. 29.
Not only does Reign FC have the two worst teams in the league left on its schedule, but those squads are far worse than the Dash. Sky Blue FC is a whopping nine points behind Houston in the table, and the Pride are two points behind that.
All told, the 11 points that separate the Dash in seventh and the Pride in ninth is the same number of points that separates the second-place Red Stars and Dash.
In other words, a URFC loss Wednesday and thus a Reign FC win and the corresponding three points would put the Evergreen State team in the driver’s seat for the final playoff spot, with URFC on the outside looking in once again, a year after it fell two points short of the postseason in its inaugural campaign.
The two sides have split their two meetings so far this season, with URFC most recently winning 3-1 on Aug. 11. National team icon and Reign FC forward Megan Rapinoe was not on the field for either contest, as she didn’t make her NWSL season debut until Sept. 8, but she is expected to play Wednesday.
First kick is set for 8 p.m. MT. The game can be viewed on Yahoo Sports.