The 2019 Utah Royals FC season marks the team's second year of existence and its second season in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL), the top division of the

American soccer pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

. In an effort to improve on the team's 5th place finish in 2018, the Royals signed former Spanish international and Spain's all-time leading scorer Vero Boquete for the 2019 season. Utah encountered numerous injury problems to start the season as both Brittany Ratcliffe and

Taylor Lytle Taylor Marie Lytle (born March 31, 1989) is an American professional association football, soccer player who last played as a midfielder for Utah Royals FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Early life Lytle was raised in Las Cruces, ...

suffered season ending injuries before the season began. Canadian international

Diana Matheson Diana Beverly Matheson (born April 6, 1984) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played for the Canada national team from 2003 to 2020 and multiple professional women's teams over the course of her career. She is best known for ...

suffered a toe injury with the Canadian National Team which would require surgery, this injury would also force her to miss the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. To help deal with these absences, Utah claimed

Mallory Weber Mallory Alyse Weber (born April 4, 1994) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Club career Portland Thorns FC, 2016–2019 Weber was drafted by Weste ...

off waivers from the

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

. Six members of the Royals would miss games due to their participation at the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

Becky Sauerbrunn Rebecca Elizabeth Sauerbrunn (born June 6, 1985) is an American professional soccer player for Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of women's professional soccer in the United States. Since 2021 ...

Kelley O'Hara Kelley Maureen O'Hara (born August 4, 1988) is an American soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, and Olympic gold medalist. She currently plays as a defender for the Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and ...

and

Christen Press Christen Annemarie Press (born December 29, 1988) is an American soccer player for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. She first appeared for the United States national team during an ...

for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Desiree Scott Desiree Rose Marie Scott (born 31 July 1987) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League club Kansas City Current and the Canadian national team. Nicknamed "the destroyer", she won gold at the 20 ...

for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Katie Bowen Kate Elizabeth Bowen (born 15 April 1994) is a professional footballer from New Zealand who plays as a defensive midfielder for Melbourne City of the Australian A-League Women. She is a member of the New Zealand national team. Early life Uni ...

for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Rachel Corsie Rachel Louise Corsie (born 17 August 1989) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Aston Villa W.F.C in the FA Women’s Super League (WSL). She is also the captain of the Scotland national team. She previously play ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The Royals would lose another player at the end of June as defender

Samantha Johnson Samantha Martel Johnson (born June 10, 1991) is an American soccer defender. She has previously played for National Women's Soccer League clubs Chicago Red Stars and Utah Royals FC and for Australian W-League clubs Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC ...

announced her retirement from professional soccer. Defender

suffered an ankle injury during the first

USWNT The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015, a ...

victory tour match on August 3, she would miss the remainer of Utah's season due to this injury. On August 14, Royals forward

was named

NWSL Player of the Week The National Women's Soccer League Player of the Week is a weekly soccer award given to individual players in the National Women's Soccer League. The honor is awarded to the player deemed to have put in the best performances over the past week b ...

for Week 17, this was the first time a player on the Utah Royals had received this award. Press was also named Player of the Month for August, which was also a first for the club. The Royals were eliminated from playoff contention on September 28 after their fourth consecutive loss. Utah defender

was named 2019 NWSL Defender of the Year, this was her fourth time winning the award, as she had previously won it three times while playing for

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champions ...

Competitions

Pre Season

NWSL Regular Season

Overall Table

Results summary

Results by round

Match results

= April

= May

= June

= July

= August

= September

= October

Stats

Honors and awards

NWSL awards The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) presents six annual awards to individual players. The Golden Boot award is presented to the top scorer at the end of the regular season, while the Most Valuable Player, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of ...

Best XI

Second XI

NWSL Monthly Awards

NWSL Player of the Month The National Women's Soccer League Player of the Month is a monthly soccer award given to individual players in the National Women's Soccer League. The honor is awarded to the player deemed to have put in the best performances over the past month b ...

NWSL Team of the Month The National Women's Soccer League Team of the Month is a monthly soccer award given to individual players in the National Women's Soccer League. The NWSL Media Association, composed of journalists who regularly cover the league, select a Best XI o ...

NWSL Weekly Awards

NWSL Player of the Week The National Women's Soccer League Player of the Week is a weekly soccer award given to individual players in the National Women's Soccer League. The honor is awarded to the player deemed to have put in the best performances over the past week b ...

NWSL Goal of the Week

NWSL Save of the Week The National Women's Soccer League Save of the Week is a weekly soccer award given to individual players in the National Women's Soccer League since 2016. The honor is awarded by popular social media vote to the player deemed to have scored the be ...

Club

Roster

* Age calculated as of the start of the 2019 season.

Player Transactions

Transfers In

Transfers Out

2019 NWSL College Draft The 2019 NWSL College Draft was the seventh annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select newly eligible college players for the 2019 NWSL season. It was held on January 10, 2019 in conjunction with the United Socc ...

: ''Source: National Women's Soccer League''

References

{{2019 NWSL season by team National Women's Soccer League