Cameron Tucker, Michele Vasconcelos can't wait to build Utah for Utah Royals FC
Cameron Tucker, Michele Vasconcelos can't wait to build Utah for Utah Royals FC
The two former BYU stars are among the five native Utahns on the roster of the 2024 NWSL expansion club that will begin play March 16 at America First Field in Sandy.
Cameron Tucker tried to play it off nonchalantly, but inside, she was freaking out.
The Lone Peak High product was back home in the NWSL offseason, riding passenger-side with close friends Mikayla Cluff and twin sisters Daviana and Laveni Vaka. When her phone rang, she had to politely shush her former BYU teammates; it was her general manager with the Houston Dash.
The club was calling with somewhat bittersweet news — but ultimately, the kind of news she wanted to hear.
Tucker was being traded to Utah Royals FC, a homecoming made possible by the 2024 NWSL expansion side sending $50,000 in allocation money back to Houston. It wasn’t her plan — but it was her good fortune, she admits.
“I had no idea at the time that was what was happening,” Tucker said. “I was so shocked and surprised. But obviously, I was so excited. And it was exciting that they were with me, especially Kayla; we had already talked about how it would be a dream come true to play together again.”
As the forward with 43 goals in 99 appearances at BYU wrote in her return post on Instagram: “There’s no place like home.”
Tucker, 24, spent two years in the NWSL, first with NJ/NY Gotham FC in 2022 before a move to Houston in 2023, where she made 12 appearances for the Dash. In H-Town, she experienced significant growth in her career, learning to play wider rather than as the typical target forward that coach Jennifer Rockwood employed all the way to the Cougars’ first-ever NCAA College Cup (and eventual national championship match, where BYU fell on penalty kicks to Florida State).
So there was a bittersweet element of departing Houston. But Tucker emphasizes the sweet to the bitter.
“I loved my time in Houston, and I’m so thankful for that organization for taking me and giving me a place to call home at the time,” Tucker said. “I made such great friends. But obviously, I was so excited to be coming home. It kind of just hit me at once.”
The chance to represent Utah in the newly relaunched Utah Royals FC, which opens the 2024 regular season March 16 against the Chicago Red Stars, was too great to pass up. Especially not for a group of native Utahns — a five-player Royals rotation that includes Tucker, Cluff, rookie Brecken Mozingo, goalkeeper Carly Nelson, and midfielder Michele Vasconcelos — the veteran of the group, with six years of NWSL experience prior to the Alta High product’s homecoming as a free agent.
“Just for the fans, it’s exciting to know players on the team,” said Vasconcelos, who made one appearance for the former Royals in 2020 before the team moved to Kansas City. “With any pro team, kids will look up to the players. But knowing those players, from high school or college, it makes it even more special.
“It was hard leaving the first time; I left Chicago in the hopes of coming home for more support, to have more family around. To be here for less than a month was hard. To go be in a rebuilding team again was tough for my career. It worked out, but initially it was pretty hard.”
Listen to the complete interview with Cameron Tucker and Michele Vasconcelos on the Salt City FC podcast feed, where ever you listen to podcasts.