SALT LAKE CITY — At the outset of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Challenge Cup in late June, it appeared that the host Utah Royals FC would have a hard time scoring goals.
URFC has never been very potent offensively to begin with, and then United States Women’s National Team star Christen Press, one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the world, opted not to play, leaving the front line thin outside of Amy Rodriguez.
But in the team’s first game of the tournament, new head coach Craig Harrington, who vowed when he took the job in February that the group would be more explosive, employed a 3-5-2 formation, which aims to push more players forward.
The biggest question after a 3-3 draw in the opener against the Houston Dash, then, was not about the offense, but about whether or not having just three defenders in front of goal would be worth having more scoring opportunities.
“We’re creating shots. We just need to convert.” — Utah Royals FC coach Craig Harrington
As it has turned out over the last three games since the opener, the defense has been just fine, allowing only two goals, both of which came on great plays from opponents rather than bad breakdowns. The offense, though, hasn’t produced enough, scoring just one goal.
URFC has been shut out in its last two games, two 1-0 decisions in which opponent goals have come in the final minutes.
As the team gets a few days off before the tournament moves to the knockout stage with the quarterfinal games on Friday and Saturday, the focus without question is on trying to score more. (URFC’s opponent is pending the final preliminary game late Monday night between the North Carolina Courage and Sky Blue FC.)
To be sure, URFC has created plenty of chances. Before that final game between the Courage and Sky Blue, URFC was second among the tournament’s eight teams in both total shots (37) and shots on goal (16).
The ultimate issue, then, is finding a way to finish more of those chances.
“We’re creating shots,” Harrington said in his postgame Zoom press conference Sunday night after a 1-0 loss to the Chicago Red Stars. “We just need to convert. We need to be more clinical in the final third because you let teams hang around of that quality, of those players’ ability today, and you’re asking to get hurt, and they hurt us.”
Harrington went on to say that his group needs to have more “courage and belief.” The need more production, too.
“We’ve just got to score goals, guys,” Harrington said. “We’ve got to make goalkeepers work more than they are right now. I don’t think (Chicago and USWNT starting goalkeeper) Alyssa Naeher had too much of a busy night for the amount of chances, the amount of time we spent in and around their box and into their half and into the final third.”
Posed the question Sunday of what the team needs to work on heading into the quarterfinals, midfielder Vero Boquete echoed the bluntness of that sentiment.
“Obviously, to score, because now it’s two games that we didn’t score, but I think we have to be calm,” she said. “We are trying, we are creating, we are shooting, and now it’s about confidence.”
URFC should have some help moving forward in the form of USWNT stalwart Kelley O’Hara, who has battled injuries virtually the entire time she’s been with URFC but made her 2020 debut Sunday, coming on in the 71st minute.
Yes, O’Hara is an outside back, but she is tremendous at getting involved in the attack, and should especially be so in Harrington’s system.
“To have a player like her back on the field and ready to play, I think is really important for us,” Boquete said.
Added Harrington: “She’s going to be a little rusty obviously, however, I thought we improved while she was on the pitch (Sunday), so excited to have her part of the group. Hopefully, we see a lot more of her in this tournament.”