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NWSL Utah Royals FC

This Week at RSL

July 8, 2019 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Utah Royals FC News Release


Real Salt Lake

RSL finished off a stretch of three matches in eight days and was moments away from three straight clean sheets before the shutout streak was halted by a stoppage-time goal from the San Jose Earthquakes. Earlier in the week, RSL earned a 1-0 win over Columbus Crew SC at Rio Tinto Stadium on the heels of the eighth goal of the season from FW Sam Johnson and GK Nick Rimando's fourth shutout of the year - and 148th in his MLS career. It looked like Salt Lake might get a point out of a defensive battle with San Jose on Saturday, but the late goal meant just six points out of nine possible in the three-game week. RSL is now 8-9-2 (26 points) and eighth in the Western Conference standings, just one point behind Houston for the seventh and final playoff position in the West and three points behind fifth-place Dallas in a tight Western Conference race.

In the match on Saturday, Rimando made his 500th career regular season start, becoming the first player in MLS history to reach that milestone. For perspective, the next two highest active goalkeepers are Stefan Frei and Sean Johnson. Combined, Frei and Johnson have appeared in 518 career matches, but trail Rimando in wins (215-200), shutouts (148-131) and saves (1,667-1,647).

RSL returns home to Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday to host the Philadelphia Union. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. MT and will be broadcast live on KMYU and streamed on the KSL TV app and KSL.com, with radio coverage on ESPN700.

Utah Royals FC

Utah Royals FC is 5-3-2 (17 points) on the season and fifth in the NWSL, flying to New Jersey this week to take on Sky Blue FC. Head Coach Laura Harvey is expected to have three of the World Cup players return to action this week - DF Rachel Corsie, DF Katie Bowen and MF Desiree Scott. Friday's match is scheduled to kick off at 5:30 p.m. MT with television coverage on KMYU and the radio broadcast on ESPN 700 in addition to streaming on Yahoo Sports.

After scoring one goal in four matches to bring her team-leading total to five goals on the season, FW Amy Rodriguez was named to the NWSL Team of the Month for June. Rodriguez also earned the honor in May, joining teammates DF Rachel Corsie and MF Vero Boquete.

The highlight of the weekend came in Lyon, France, where DF Becky Sauerbrunn, DF Kelley O'Hara and FW Christen Press brought home the second consecutive World Cup title with a 2-0 win over the Netherlands. The win marked the fourth time the USWNT has secured a World Cup crown, becoming just the second team to claim back-to-back titles in Women's World Cup history. All three URFC players helped the United States to a perfect 7-0-0 record in the tournament, all while earning a resounding +23 goal differential. During the tournament, Sauerbrunn and O'Hara were mainstays on the backline, while Press supplemented one of the most formidable attacks in the history of the women's game, scoring one goal in the team's semifinal match against England.

Real Monarchs SLC

On Saturday, the Monarchs claimed its fourth consecutive victory when it defeated 2019 expansion side and Four-Corners Cup rival New Mexico United 1-0 on Saturday. Maikel Chang notched his team-leading seventh goal of the 2019 season, calmly putting away his second half penalty kick. Goalkeeper David Ochoa made three saves in goal to earn his third shutout on the season and the first since March. Real Monarchs will host Tacoma Defiance on Friday, July 12 at Zions Bank Stadium as it looks for its fifth consecutive win.

Defender Stanley Okumu continues to play for the Kenyan National team at the 2019 African Cup of Nations. Okumu last featured for Kenya on July 1, playing the full 90 minutes in the teams 3-0 loss at the hands of Senegal. Okumu and Kenya now get set to face Burundi in the next round of the tournament.

Last week, the Monarchs duo of Douglas Martinez and Ricardo Avila were summoned to their respective national teams for the Pan America Games and 2020 Olympic qualifying. Martinez was called to the Honduran U-23s while Avila was called to the Panamanian U-23s, but will miss the matches after suffering an injury in last Saturday's match. Avila underwent successful surgery on Sunday and will now receive treatment at the club as he journeys on the road to recovery.

RSL Foundation

The RSL Foundation is auctioning off RSL's signed Adidas X Parley eco-friendly jerseys the team wore on April 19th. These unique jerseys were made from technical yarns comprised of plastic waste collected on the beaches and transformed into high-performance sportswear. Each jersey was made with up to 20 plastic bottles.

To expand our impact on clean energy, the RSL Foundation and Kyle Beckerman have teamed up with Navajo Nation steward Mylo Fowler to bring solar power to 40 homes on the reservation. Fowler is an award-winning photographer who highlights his homeland of the Navajo Reservation with incredible photographs and amazing service projects. You can view Fowler's work can be viewed here: https://www.fourthworldimages.com/Giving-Back.

An estimated 18,000 homes on Navajo Nation lack access to electricity. The cost to provide clean renewable solar energy to each house is approximately $600.

100% of the money raised by you from this auction will go towards lighting homes that currently have no power. With your help, we can impact 40 families in Utah this fall when students return to school.

To bid on the jerseys, visit RSL.com/Auction.

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National Women's Soccer League Stories from July 8, 2019


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