SANDY — Last year was eventful for the Real Salt Lake organization, to say the least.

But 2019 could be even better.

Before jumping forward to opening day March 2 at Houston (or the home opener one week later against the Vancouver Whitecaps), let’s take one final look back at 2018 and guess what could be in store for Utah’s three-pronged professional soccer pyramid — starting with the newcomers.

A Royal welcome

The organization added a third arm — almost unexpectedly — with the addition of Utah Royals FC, the first-ever National Women’s Soccer League team to grace the Beehive State.

Though the club finished one spot outside of the playoffs in fifth place in the final table, there were moments of brilliance that captured the local fanbase — notably an average attendance of 9,466 fans per game, the second-best mark in the NWSL.

Behind the return of stars like Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara and Christen Press, coach Laura Harvey’s side will try to improve on last year’s 9-8-7 record and break through for a playoff berth.

It won’t be easy, but when the NWSL announced the squad’s schedule for its second season in Utah, the Royals caught a bit of a break. They’ll begin and end the 2019 regular season at home, including the April 20 opener against former BYU soccer star Ashley Hatch and the Washington Spirit.

The Royals will also do so with a few new faces, like Spanish midfielder Veronica Boquete and a trio of NWSL college draft picks in Pepperdine’s Michelle Maemone, Penn State’s Maddie Nolf and Salt Lake City-born midfielder Alex Kimball, who played at North Carolina.

"Getting back to Utah with the opportunity to play in front of my family has always been a dream of mine, especially now with Utah Royals FC being a part of the NWSL," Kimball said when she was drafted. "I am just excited to get to work, improve my game, and hopefully be a piece for Laura to use this season coming up."

Playoff-bound

Real Salt Lake, which now holders the title of "parent club" with several branches that include the second-division Real Monarchs and a recently announced semipro side URFC Reserves, found itself back in the MLS Cup Playoffs after missing out during the 2017 season.

Not only did head coach Mike Petke's side qualify for the postseason, but they also went on the road and beat MLS debutantes Los Angeles FC 3-2 in a knockout round game that set up a conference semifinal match with rival Sporting Kansas City.

Led by MLS rookie of the year Corey Baird and star midfielders like Albert Rusnak and Damir Kreilach — as well as savvy veterans Kyle Beckerman and MLS all-time goalkeeping great Nick Rimando — the club finished the season with a 14-13-7 record.

“I think you can look back on (the season) as a positive,” RSL defender Brooks Lennon said. “We were a bit lucky to get into the playoffs on Decision Day, but we got in and we made the most of that decision. Going further than last year and taking a step farther is obviously positive.”

Taking the next step, however, required some tweaks and changes to Salt Lake’s roster.

With that in mind, the club declined contract options on 10 players: goalkeeper Connor Sparrow; defenders Tony Beltran, David Horst, Taylor Peay and Demar Phillips; midfielders Luke Mulholland, Stephen "Sunny" Sunday and Jose Hernandez; and forwards Ricky Lopez-Espin and Luis Silva.

The exercise on Mulholland and Beltran proved to be cosmetic, ultimately, as the two re-signed with Real Salt Lake after a few weeks.

But the rest of the departures left for good, replaced by a few new signees under general manager Craig Waibel, who signed a contract extension himself. Rusnak improved upon his designated player status with a deal reportedly worth more than any other in RSL history, and Waibel also added to the midfield by signing Everton Luiz, a Brazilian defensive midfielder who most recently played for SPAL in Italy.

Then came the big one — the signing for which all fans were holding their collective breath.

RSL found its new No. 9 striker, inking Liberian international Sam Johnson to a contract after spending time with Valerenga in Norway.

The 25-year-old native of Monrovia scored 11 goals in 21 appearances last year in Norway, and he also spent time in Sweden and China.

“The addition of Sam will provide us with a strong option up front and will certainly create further competition on an already deep roster,” Petke said of the new addition.

Add to it SuperDraft picks Sam Brown and Kyle Coffee, who prepped at Syracuse High, and the Real Salt Lake has been charging forward into the 2019 preseason with stops in California, Hawaii and, most recently, Arizona.

That’s in addition to its home base, the brand-new, $80 million RSL Academy and training facility in Herriman.

One area where the team hopes to improve the most is on the road. While RSL’s form at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy was on par with any in the league, its ability to score, manage and keep leads while on the road was disappointing, to say the least.

At times, it was even disastrous.

“We had a good home record, but I think our away record was probably as bad as anyone in the playoffs,” said defender Nedum Onuoha, a former Premier League center back who signed with the club last September and played a key role in the win at LAFC. “That has to be better; you can be borderline successful without having any away form, but if you have some away form, it takes pressure off the games at home.

“That’s what we aspire, is just to get things right at certain times.”

Real Salt Lake has goals, just like any team in MLS. Those goals include improving on each season, which is something the club has been able to accomplish in each of the first two years under Petke.

But lofty goals remain, just like every other team in Major League Soccer.

“The ultimate goal has to be to win MLS Cup, and I think everyone in the locker room knows that is the ultimate goal,” Lennon said. “To make the playoffs last year was a huge step for our group, and we now know that we are one of the top teams in the West.”

New beginnings

The third professional club in the Real Salt Lake family are Real Monarchs, which plays in the second-division United Soccer League — now rebranded as the USL Championship.

The Monarchs went 19-12-13 in their first season at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, qualifying for the USL Cup playoffs for the second consecutive season.

They did this without a full-time head coach for more than half the year, as assistant Jamison Olave was promoted to interim manager after Mark Briggs was suspended and later dismissed following allegations of domestic violence (the charges filed by the Draper City attorney’s office were later dropped).

Still, the Monarchs failed to advance beyond the opening round of the playoffs for a second consecutive season — and improvement is also on the minds of the youngsters.

To lead the charge, the organization brought in Martin Vasquez, a former coach with LA Galaxy, Chivas USA, Bayern Munich and the U.S. men’s national team who had been running the RSL Academy in both Casa Grande, Arizona, and Herriman.

Vasquez’s credentials are vast, and he’s excited to get back into full-time coaching at the professional level — something he passed on a few times to stay loyal to the RSL crest.

“When you coach at the academy and the younger groups, you really have to coach. I love that coaching and teaching. Yes, I missed the adrenaline and the competition and the stress of the professional level,” Vasquez admitted. “But when I started coaching at the academy, I started seeing young players with ambitions, goals and dreams — and I was very motivated and excited to be able to help some of these guys to play at the next level.

“When we started doing that, I had other opportunities in Mexico and Central America to be a coach of U-20 national teams and in the USL Pro. But what I was doing in Arizona and then continued to do here made me impact and help some young players. I’ve been enjoying that, and it’s why I didn’t always miss coaching at that level.”

Eyes on the horizon

There are plenty of reasons to look forward to the 2019 season for RSL. It’s an exciting time for MLS, with a sharper, condensed schedule cut more than a month shorter, and expansion season at FC Cincinnati (with Nashville, Miami and Austin on deck).

Luiz and Johnson provide immediate experience and should compete for a starting spot on opening day in Houston. That could make Petke’s roster as deep as any Real Salt Lake’s history.

RSL should be in contention for the Western Conference playoffs in 2019, but beyond that is a question (as most other teams can also attest). Will the club be competing for home-field advantage in a new playoff structure that puts such elements at a premium — or will they be squeezing into the postseason and hoping for a late run, as they did in 2018?

It all starts March 2 in Houston, with the live stream available on KSL.com.

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