Utah Royals FC opened up the doubleheader weekend of soccer at America First Field on Friday night welcoming 2026 expansion side Boston Legacy FC to Utah for the first time. While the home side found the equalizer after conceding early into the match, the Royals ultimately fell 2-1 in front of a home crowd of 8,112 fans after a late goal by Boston.
Real Salt Lake earned a much needed point in a 2-2 stalemate with the Los Angeles Football Club on Saturday night at America First Field, its first draw against LAFC in over two years. The hard fought battle came in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 21,000 fans, just the 13th instance all-time for MLS and third time this season (Miami, Colorado).
‘Super Ki’ earns fourth goal of the season on Superhero Night
Prior to kickoff on Friday night, the Utah Royals recognized veteran defender Kaleigh Riehl who recently reached the impressive milestone of 100 NWSL appearances. The night was also extra special for URFC Head Coach Jimmy Coenraets who has now been at the helm for 50 matches — all with Utah.
After conceding in the 10th minute, URFC goalkeeper McGlynn earned her second career assist, sending a ball up the pitch in the 17th minute for the Mexican national Kiana Palacios, the equalizer by the forward affectionately known as “Super Ki” was her fourth score of the 2026 season and came coincidentally on the club’s Superhero themed night.
With her start Friday tonight, Utah’s veteran defender Kate Del Fava has now played 7,202 straight minutes, passing Katie Atkinson (2021-25 with Louisville) for the 2nd-longest streak in league history behind Denver’s Kaleigh Kurtz’s active streak.
Lobjanize and Caliskan each net equalizing goals Saturday
Real Salt Lake opened up the highly anticipated match in front of a sold-out crowd looking to snap its four match winless streak across all competitions, after conceding in the 14th minute it was the recently acquired Georgian midfielder Saba Lobjanidze whose first-ever goal with RSL was a perfectly placed shot to the bottom left corner of the net to bring the score level at one a piece.
After conceding before halftime, RSL came into the second 45 with energy, maintaining a high level of possession. In the 70th minute, 19-year-old Colin Guske entered the match, making his home debut for the club. The home side continued to play with energy putting constant pressure on the LAFC defense, and it paid off with a beautiful tap in goal by German midfielder Noel Caliskan, his first of the 2026 season and the second RSL equalizer of the evening.
In the 87th minute veteran defender DeAndre Yedlin was undoubtedly the hero of the evening, making a goal-line save to keep the score deadlocked late in the match. The Claret-and-Cobalt capped off its evening with forward Jason Shokalook, the 23-year-old landed in Utah earlier this week and made his debut for the club in the 89th minute on Saturday night.
Quotable
“I think everyone is aware that next week is Houston, we don’t look further than that. If there’s one thing I’d say about this team is that every single time we find a way back, we find a way back into the league and we found a way back into today as well. We conceded a stupid goal but we found a way back so it’s just a bump in the road, and we’ll deal with it on Monday.” - URFC Head coach Jimmy Coenraets
“What I’m most happy about with the performance was the result in coming in at halftime down a goal. It’s really easy, given the way things have been to pity yourself and feel sorry for yourself but I think the guys did a fantastic job in the second half. They did a fantastic job of creating some of the better chances and I think we were just a little bit more polished in our decision making and execution in that final third.” - RSL Head coach Pablo Mastroeni
Game summary
URFC
The Royals started the evening much like its match last Saturday against Orlando, conceding a goal in the 10th minute of the match and forcing the squad to play from behind early. URFC goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn came up big in the 15th minute, denying former Royal, Bianca St. Georges. Just two minutes later the veteran ‘keeper sent a ball soaring up the pitch, assisting Palacios whose equalizer brought the match to 1-1. Palacios nearly netted a second goal to take the lead just before halftime, her strike narrowly missing and hitting the crossbar.
The second half was a physical battle with both sides trading offensive opportunities. In the 86th minute, McGlynn made a heroic save, making a 1v1 stop against a Boston attacker, the pressure from the visitors proved too much as the Legacy found the back of the net just moments later to retake the lead. After two minutes of stoppage time the Royals were unable to push up the pitch and find the equalizer, ultimately falling 2-1 at home.
RSL
The Claret-and-Cobalt began the evening matchup against LAFC with energy, while the home side was able to push into the offensive third early on, it was the visitors who found the back of the net first with a strike by LAFC’s Dennis Bouanga just fourteen minutes into the game. The 18th minute equalizer by Lobjanidze was possible because of a high-level play by Caliskan who slid for the ball allowing for RSL to maintain possession and get the much needed score.
Just before halftime South Korean star striker Son Heung-Min gave the visitors its second goal, while RSL Captain goalkeeper Rafael Cabral got a hand on the strike nearly making the save, the ball ultimately crossed the line, giving LAFC the 2-1 lead in the 38th minute.
As the second half began, the home side continued to play with energy, maintaining a high-level of possession throughout the first thirty minutes to earn multiple scoring chances. However, Real Salt Lake broke through, equalizing once again as Caliskan crashed the net to tap the ball in with his left foot following a saved shot by RSL Academy Product Aiden Hezarkhani. After the sliding save by Yedlin, Real Salt Lake earned a hard fought point in the stalemate, its first tie against the LA side since July 2024.
Up next
Utah Royals FC hit the road and head to the Lone Star State next Saturday, Sept. 12 to take on the Houston Dash. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. MDT and will stream on ION.
Real Salt Lake heads into yet another two match week, also heading to Texas to take on the red-hot Houston Dynamo in a midweek matchup on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m. MDT before returning to the Wasatch Front to welcome the New York City FC to America First Field. Kickoff for that match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MDT with both matches streaming on Apple TV.
