Everything but the win: Tatumn Milazzo's storybook return from injury cut short by Royals' 2-1 loss at Kansas City
Milazzo scored her first goal for the club as Utah led Kansas City 1-0 at halftime before the Current rallied for a 2-1 win on Ally Sentnor's goal against her former team.
Former Utah Royals draft pick Ally Sentnor has scored plenty of sensational goals for club and country since she was drafted with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NWSL college draft out of North Carolina.
Her match-winner Saturday afternoon was right up there with some of the better goals Royals fans have seen over the past three years.
It was just against her former club.
Sentnor scored the decisive game-winner in the 69th minute as the Kansas City Current took all 3 points from Utah Royals FC with a 2-1 win in an NWSL season opener for both clubs at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Croix Bethune also scored for the Current (1-0, 3 points), which rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit provided by Utah’s Tatumn Milazzo.
Kansas City out-shot the Royals (0-1, 0 points) 18-12 on the afternoon, including 5-4 in shots on goal in the win that marked the 18th-straight home result. That’s the third-longest home unbeaten streak in NWSL history.
“It was a great effort from the team,” Utah coach Jimmy Coenraets said. “We just feel like it needs to be a 90-minute effort.”
For 45 minutes, it couldn’t have been much better.
Last year’s NWSL Shield winners scored plenty of goals, and certainly attempted to attack in force to open Saturday’s season opener.
With two-time reigning NWSL MVP and Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga sidelined with injury, the Current struggled initially to find chances in front of goal.
Utah took advantage, out-shooting Kansas City 5-1 in the first 30 minutes. That set the stage for Milazzo to cap a storybook return from an ACL injury with a goal in the 35th minute to put the visitors in front first.
“I just saw a little opening, and stuck my head in, hoping I timed it well and wasn’t offsides,” said Milazzo, who noted the team was working on set pieces during Friday’s training in Kansas City when she scored with a header. “Then I think I blacked out.”
The moment was even bigger because “she wasn’t starting until about 24 hours ago,” Coenraets added.
“She had to step up to the challenge,” he said.
“Seeing her score that goal is a statement that she is one of those players who will do whatever is needed to do,” Coenraets added. “I think she’s a player who is eager to contribute to the team’s performance.”
It was a storybook moment for Milazzo, the 27-year-old who joined the Royals on a two-year deal in 2025 before missing the entire season with an ACL injury before scoring the franchise’s first-ever goal against the Current.
Utah was patient with Milazzo, allowing her to recover from in-season surgery and a lengthy rehab under the team’s medical staff before removing her from the season-ending injury list March 11.
She returned during the team’s preseason slate at the Coachella Valley Invitational in California, and started at outside back for Saturday’s regular-season opener.
That left her available to start Saturday’s season opener, when Cloé Lacasse took a corner kick from former BYU star Brecken Mozingo — one of five before the break for Utah — and whipped a stunning ball toward the penalty box that connected with Milazzo’s head for the go-ahead goal midway through the first half.
“It was super tough; coming here and getting hurt the first week was pretty devastating,” Milazzo said. “But it gave me pretty good perspective … and I got to watch the game from a different point of view, knowing I wouldn’t be in (last) year.
“I think I was waiting of this day for a year now,” she added. “It felt like a long time, but also like five seconds.”
The Royals patiently picked their opportunities in the final third, putting two of their seven shots on frame and holding Kansas City to just three total shots en route to the 1-0 halftime lead.
But the Current went into the locker room to re-focus and reset, then came out to “just play soccer,” Bethune told ION after the match.
“We saw what they were giving us, and re-evaluated,” she added. “We came out and raised the level.”
Bethune equalized in the 57th minute, taking a pass from Kayla Sharples to score her first goal since a $1 million trade from Washington on her 25th birthday, and moments before the U.S. international was substituted off.
That gave all the moment to Kansas City, and Sentnor — the former Utah Royals draft pick traded to the Current last summer for $600,000 in intra-league transfer funds and a generous sell-on fee — put the hosts ahead with a stunning goal in the 69th minute.
For 45 minutes, a team without a playoff appearance — in either of their bifurcated histories in the NWSL — was hanging with one of the best teams in the league.
The next step revolves around a 90-minute game.
“It’s not the same Utah that it’s been forever,” said Madison Hammond, the sixth-year NWSL veteran who joined Utah on a two-year deal in December. “We’re ready.”
Utah returns home Sunday, March 22 to host the San Diego Wave at America First Field (5 p.m. MT, Victory+).
Listen to postgame comments from head coach Jimmy Coenraets, goal-scorer Tatumn Milazzo, and fellow Royals debutant Madison Hammond below and on Spotify.
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