'I didn't realize how stressed I was': Utah Royals captain reflects on 1st year, excitement entering 2025


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SANDY — The Utah Royals' first season back in the NWSL was anything but smooth, and team captain Paige Monaghan felt the full force of the rough waters.

The 28-year-old New Jersey native found herself changing teams for the second time in two seasons a year ago and was tasked with leading a group of 24 new teammates under a first-time head coach.

The team endured a six-game losing streak early in the season and earned just its second win of the season 13 games into 2024. Two weeks later, their head coach was fired and it was almost as if the whole process started over again.

Monaghan struggled to find her scoring touch as one of the team's starting forwards, getting her first goal 17 games into the 26-game season.

"Honestly, it was a lot for me, personally," Monaghan said. "As much as you want to be able to handle that the best you can, I didn't realize how stressed I was. And with that, of course, it's like a knock to your confidence, and how you're feeling every day."

Monaghan managed to remain a steady presence for the club and community, however, even inspiring a group of young fans to start calling themselves, "Paige's Scrunchie Squad," after the trademark pink scrunchie Monaghan wears in her hair every game.

The Royals announced a contract extension for Monaghan on Jan. 7 that will keep her in Utah through the 2027 season, and teammates expect her to be "grandfathered" in as captain once again in 2025 as she enters her second year in Salt Lake with renewed excitement.

"There's such a vision and there's such a path that I know I'm responsible for ... so that makes it super easy to show up every day to work," Monaghan said. "I'm just really excited for this year. Feeling healthy and just feeling like myself in January, I think, is going to be super beneficial. So, yeah, I'm excited."

Monaghan also got engaged in the offseason, with plans to tie the knot with Miami Marlins pitcher Declan Cronin at the end of the year.

"With baseball and soccer, we were just like, 'All right, we can only really do it December,'" Monaghan said. "Because November we could have a championship and January we're back in preseason. So we're getting married in New York City in December of this year."

The Royals begin their 2025 season on March 15 at home against Bay FC at America First Field.

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Caleb Turner covers Real Salt Lake as the team's beat writer for KSL.com Sports. He also oversees the sports team's social media accounts.

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