Royals Fall to Dominant Reign
Jun 28, 2019, 10:12 PM | Updated: Jun 29, 2019, 3:40 pm
Courtesy Utah Royals FC
SANDY, Utah – Utah Royals FC fell to the Seattle Reign 2-0 Friday night at Rio Tinto Stadium, in a match the Reign controlled in nearly every statistical category.
The scoring started in the 30th minute, after Jess Whitlock finished a give-and-go from Bethany Balcer, and found herself alone inside the box. She curled a shot around Royals goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart and into the side netting on Barnhart’s left side, giving Seattle the 1-0 lead.
The Reign then added to their advantage in the 35th minute. Once again, it was Whitlock doing most of the damage, as she slalomed through the Royals defense, setting up a streaking Ifeoma Onumonu. Onumonu found herself all alone in the 18-yard box, took Barnhart on 1-on-1, and beat her with a blast to Barnhardt’s left.
Not our night pic.twitter.com/ly26YkFHKY
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) June 29, 2019
As for the Royals, they were punchless through the first 80 minutes of the game, netting 0 corners, and only managing 1 shot-on-goal. The final 10 minutes and additional 8 minutes of stoppage time were much more active, but the home side ultimately couldn’t find the back of the net. As for Seattle, they put 4 shots on frame, and generated 8 corner kicks during the 90 minute match.
It is worth noting, between the teams’ three games in 2018, and Friday night’s match, the Royals have never scored on Seattle. The two teams will meet twice more in 2019.
With the loss, Utah Royals FC are tied with the Reign for second in the NWSL standings, with 17 points. The team is back in action on July 12, on the road against Sky Blue FC.
