The Utah Royals return home to face the Washington Spirit at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night, here’s what you need to know ahead of the match:
1. The Utah Royals have begun their playoff push with an important win over the Houston Dash on Sunday. After going down late in the first half, Christen Press and Katie Stengel led Utah to victory in the second half and kept their playoff hopes alive.
The win in Houston snapped Utah’s four-match winless streak and leaves them four spots out of the playoffs.
2. With her goal in Houston, Katie Stengel remains at the top of Utah’s scoring chart with 4 goals while Diana Matheson and Christen Press have 2 goals and 1 assist each. Rachel Corsie’s recent performances landed her two Save of the Week honors and on the July Team of the Month while Katie Stengel’s game-winner also won Goal of the Week:
Up and over.@ksteng12‘s winner for @UtahRoyalsFC is taking home #NWSL Goal of the Week honors! pic.twitter.com/NyNnq2eMtP
— NWSL (@NWSL) August 7, 2018
Wednesday’s match will mark the second between Utah and Washington, the first resulted in Utah’s first-ever win on May 5th at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Royals sit in 6th place with a record of 6-6-7 and 25 points. Utah is 3-2-4 at home, outscoring their opponents 8 to 5. As the Royals continue their pursuit of a playoff position, Christen Press says there’s no room for error:
3. The Washington Spirit haven’t picked up a point since June 16th, when they drew 0-0 with Seattle and are on a six-match losing streak, having scored just one goal during that time. Of those six matches, four have been on the road where they are winless on the season. The Spirit have scored five goals and conceded seventeen on the road this season. Ashley Hatch leads the Spirit with 4 goals and 1 assist, Francisca Ordega has 3 goals, and Mallory Pugh has 2 goals and 1 assist. The Washington Spirit are in 8th place with a record of 2-13-4 with 10 points.
Our coverage of Utah Royals vs Washington Spirit begins on Wednesday, August 7th at 8 P.M. with Greg Wrubell and Carla Swensen-Haslam.
