Familiarity and a bike: Brecken Mozingo finding footing with consecutive goals in Royals' 5-match winless skid
The former BYU star and Alta High alum scored a goal for the second straight match in the Utah Royals’ 3-1 loss to the Orlando Pride on Friday night.
SANDY, Utah — Brecken Mozingo is finding her footing in her second season in the National Women’s Soccer League.
The former BYU star and Alta High alum scored a goal for the second straight match in the Utah Royals’ 3-1 loss to the Orlando Pride on Friday night.
It was the first goal at home for Mozingo, who grew up a bike ride away from the stadium before playing collegiately at UCLA before twice leading the Cougars to the NCAA College Cup semifinals and being drafted fourth overall by her hometown NWSL club.
The 24-year-old forward with two goals in nine matches in her sophomore season is finding new confidence in herself, thanks to the confidence her team and coaching staff have instilled in her after a goal-less rookie season.
“I’ve also been working on my fitness, running from our defensive 18 to our attacking 18 and so on. It’s not my favorite thing,” she said with a smile. “But I’ll do it for the team, if it needs to happen — and obviously it needs to happen.”
She also recently bought an extra fitness tool of her own.
“I bought a bike, and I’ve been spending a lot of time biking,” she joked. “Maybe that could be it, too.”
Of course, Friday night’s match wasn’t just about the Royals — but an Orlando side that saw the first hat trick in Pride history, a first-half trioplet by NWSL star Barbra Banda.
The 25-year-old Zambia international made the kind of plays that have given league defenders fits since she broke out a year ago in scoring 13 goals in 22 appearances in the states after stops in Spain and China.
“She’s amazing. She has such a great talent, and I wish she could just share a little bit of her speed with me,” said Mozingo of the attacking wunderkind with seven goals and an assist in 10 matches to start the campaign. “She’s a great player, it’s great to watch her, and she’s setting the tone for the next generation.”
Banda is the kind of player Utah (1-7-2, 5 points) hopes to one day have of its own — “Who doesn’t?” came the reply of Royals manager Jimmy Coenraets after the match.
“Who doesn’t?” Royals manager Jimmy Coenraets said when asked after the match if part of him wishes he had a player like Banda.
“It’s very special to be playing against these kind of players,” the 30-year-old manager added. “From a tactical and coaching point of view, you obviously want to adapt and find a way to get them out of the game … But it’s really hard to defend these kind of players.”
Utah has a few attacking players of their own who could grow into their own, like Mozingo is doing — and of course, there’s 21-year-old U.S. international Ally Sentnor. But the progression of such talent takes time, and Friday night’s match was another reminder of the current gap in the league.
The Royals are winless in their last five matches, with the added context that the club has played three of the top-7 teams in the league in that span including top-3 contenders Washington and Orlando (the club also lost 3-0 to NWSL-leading Kansas City back on March 29).
Upcoming matches against Louisville, Gotham and Seattle — rated ahead of second-to-last Utah in the 14-team league table but at a more manageable sixth, eighth and 11th overall — provide the Royals with a chance to see how far they’ve grown.
They’ll also get back a number of their long injury list by the time the NWSL returns to play. Center back Kaleigh Riehl (lower leg), forward Paige Monaghan (foot), midfielder Macey Fraser (knee) and midfielder Mikayla Cluff (concussion) are all on schedule to return by the Royals’ next match June 6 against Racing Louisville, Coenraets said while knocking on wood.
A five-match winless skid has provided a lot of learning moments for Utah’s youth, and Mozingo was evidence of growth as she took a well-played pass from Claudia Zornoza and raced to her first goal in front of family and friends of her pro career.
“I think we just narrowed down the last few weeks to make it very simple for her,” Coenraets said. “As soon as certain players get on the ball, our players are running already, which allows our players to get in behind easier than we were doing in previous weeks.
“I think Brecken has been doing great for us. We also took a lot away from her, and made it simple.”
ORLANDO 3, UTAH 1
LINEUPS:
Utah Royals FC (4-2-3-1): Mandy McGlynn, Janni Thomsen (Ana Maria Guzmán, 74’), Kate Del Fava ©, Lauren Flynn, Nuria Rábano (Madison Pogarch, 81’); Claudia Zornoza (Bianca St-Georges, 69’), Ana Tejada (Dana Foederer, 81’), Ally Sentnor; Cece Kizer (KK Ream, 81’), Mina Tanaka, Brecken Mozingo,
Subs not used: Mia Justus, Imani Dorsey, Aisha Solórzano, Aria Nagai
Head Coach: Jimmy Coenraets
Orlando Pride (4-3-3): Anna Moorhouse; Oihane Hernandez (Kerry Abello, 64’), Kylie Nadaner ©, Emily Sams, Carson Pickett; Cori Dyke, Haley McCutcheon (Viviana Villacorta, 85’), Morgan Gautrat (Ally Lemos, 72’); Angelina Costantino (Summer Yates, 65’), Barbra Banda (Marta, 72’), Ally Watt
Subs not used: McKinley Crone, Julie Doyle, Prisca Chiufya, Zara Chavoshi
Head Coach: Sebastian Tony Hines
Stats Summary: UTA / ORL
Possession: 48 / 52
Shots: 14 / 13
Shots on Goal: 5 / 11
Corner Kicks: 1 / 4
Fouls: 14 / 9
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
UTA: Lauren Flynn (Yellow Card - 50’)
ORL: Barbra Banda (Yellow Card - 59’)
