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SANDY — The Utah Royals finally got to wear their new jerseys and play in their home stadium Friday in a scrimmage against BYU.
The closed scrimmage served as the final preseason prep match as the team opens the NWSL season a week from Saturday against the Chicago Red Stars on March 16 at America First Field.
It took a little while for the expansion side to warm up as the temperature dipped below 40 degrees in the first half, but a goal just before the break opened things up and allowed the Royals to pull away for an encouraging but far-from-perfect 3-0 win over the collegiate powerhouse from Provo.
The biggest difference-maker for the pro side might have been the player closest in age to the Cougars in 2024 first-overall draft pick Ally Sentnor.
Sentnor took advantage of the new NWSL draft rules and left the University of North Carolina after just one year. She turned 20 on Feb. 18, and head coach Amy Rodriguez said, "We've only seen a very small sliver of Ally Sentnor and her capabilities."
That sliver was massive on Friday, as the U.S. youth national team member played as if the ball was tied to her feet with a string and launched more than a handful of promising shots toward goal, one of which curled in and gave RSL its third-and-final goal late in the second half.
That's our No. 1 draft pick 🫶 https://t.co/StvpZS3E32
— Utah Royals (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 7, 2024
"I'm so thankful she was available in the draft and we got her at No. 1," Rodriguez said. "She is No. 1 for a reason. She's a special player. You saw that tonight and she's hopefully gonna score us a lot of goals this year."
The other two goals for the Royals were scored by five-year NWSL veteran Paige Monaghan, who started on the opposite wing from Sentnor and combined with forward Hannah Betfort on several occasions in front of goal.
The defense held strong to get the clean sheet with draft pick Cristina Roque and Utah alum Carly Nelson splitting the match at goalkeeper. Likely starter Mandy Haught is suspended for the season opener due to a red card she received with Gotham FC in the 2023 NWSL Championship match, which Gotham won.
"They were sitting pretty low, so just making sure we stay sharp in the moments where they're breaking," defender and former Royal Kate Del Fava said of what went into the clean sheet. "A lot of communication (and) good defensive principles."
Even though the Royals existed previously in Utah, the team was built from scratch as an NWSL expansion franchise, meaning the last two months of the preseason were crucial in bringing together 24 new players under first-time head coach Rodriguez.
"I think just our biggest quality right now is relentlessness, grit and work ethic," Sentnor said of how the team is gelling. "Every day something new comes (into our game) and I hope that we can really showcase our possession style of soccer to the NWSL, but also just the work that we put in defensively."
The season kicks off on Saturday, March 16 at 5:30 p.m. MST at America First Field against Chicago.
