Utah Royals FC Reserves fall to Florida's Pensacola FC, 4-3 in OT of WPSL championship


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SALT LAKE CITY — The reserve side of Utah Royals FC was incredibly close to winning a national championship Sunday in their first season.

But storybook endings will have to wait.

Briana Morris scored her second goal of the match in the second extra-time period to lift Florida-based Pensacola FC to a 4-3 win over Utah Royals FC Reserves in Sunday's championship match of the Women’s Premier Soccer League in Oklahoma City.

BYU standout Mikayla Colohan had a goal and two assists, and Cougar teammate Cameron Tucker scored twice to pace the URFC Reserves, which was founded in January and finishes its inaugural season with an 11-2-1 record.

Pensacola, which finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record, won its first WPSL title after playing in its third straight championship match. The Florida side's four goals matched Utah's entire regular season for goals allowed.

Utah goalkeeper Kaytlin Bradley, a Roy High grad who plays collegiately at Weber State, won the tournament's Golden Glove award, given to the most outstanding goalkeeper of the postseason.

Colohan scored the only goal of the first half to lead the Royals Reserves to a 1-0 half-time advantage. The Davis High product took a pass in the offensive third, dribbled to the end line, and cut inside before squeezing a shot inside the near post to give Utah a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute.

The Royals outshot Pensacola 3-1 in the opening 45 minutes, including the only two shots on goal, as they tried to win a championship in their first season in the 119 team league.

But Pensacola equalized barely 3 minutes into the second half, converting through Morris' first strike in the 47th minute to level the sides at one goal apiece.

Colohan set up the goal to put Utah back ahead at the hour mark, finding her BYU teammate Tucker with the go-ahead spot. The Lone Peak product took a feed near the penalty spot, dribbled into the box, and slotted home the goal that put the advantage back in Utah’s favor.

Ana Santos and Uchenna Kanu scored a pair of goals, both on set pieces, in the next 8 minutes to give Pensacola their first lead of the match.

Once again, it lay at the feet of Colohan and Tucker to force extra time. The duo combined again in the 89th minute when Colohan found Tucker on the right flank before cutting inside and taking the ball all the way home for the equalizing strike, 3-3 just before the start of stoppage time.

But even with a half-dozen opportunities on corner kicks in extra time, Utah couldn’t find the match winner in two extra-time periods.

A reserve side sponsored by Utah Royals FC, the Reserves play in the semiprofessional Women's Premier Soccer League, the longest-consecutive running women's soccer league in the nation.

The club is comprised primarily of college standouts, including Colohan and BYU teammates Alyssa Jefferson, Elise Flake, Tucker and Danika Serassio; to go along with Utah’s Holly Daugirda, Ireland Dunn, Max Flom, and Hailey North; and Utah State’s Ashley Cardozo and Amber Marshall, to name a few.

The club is coached by Utah Royals assistant Amy LePeilbet.

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