Here's where the Utah Royals' roster stands after the 2024 NWSL Draft

The Royals entered Friday's draft with 17 players under contract before adding seven, including top pick Ally Sentnor from UNC and BYU's Brecken Mozingo via the No. 4 overall selection.

Brecken Mozingo grew up a few miles from the Utah Royals’ home at America First Field in Sandy, while Ally Sentnor hails from the other side of the country in Hanson, Massachussetts before a career at North Carolina.

Both will be tied to Utah lore, though, as the first draft picks in the history of Utah Royals 2.0.

The Royals entered Friday's draft with 17 players under contract before adding seven, including top pick Sentnor from UNC and BYU's Mozingo via the No. 4 overall selection.

Here’s the complete list of draft selections for Utah, which also traded the No. 44 overall pick to the Houston Dash for $120,000 in allocation money and another fourth-round selection to Angel City FC for $15,000 in allocation money:

• Ally Sentnor, FW, North Carolina (Hanson, Mass.)

• Brecken Mozingo, MF, BYU (Sandy, Utah)

• Lauren Flynn, DF, Florida State (Arlington, Va.)

• Olivia Smith-Griffitts, DF, BYU (Eagle, Idaho)

• Emma Jaskaniec, M/F, Wisconsin (Menomonee Falls, Wisc.)

• Zoe Burns, DF, Southern California (Issaquah, Wash.)

• Cristina Roque, GK, Florida State (Winter Garden, Fla.)

A United States U-20 international who left North Carolina after earning third-team All-America and ACC midfielder of the year honors as a redshirt sophomore, Sentnor declared for the draft late, leaving two seasons of college eligibility on the table after scoring 11 goals with seven assists en route to the Tar Heels’ Elite Eight finish.

But her place as the No. 1 overall pick wasn’t always guaranteed, with fellow U.S. international and UNC teammate Savy King (who went No. 2 to Bay FC) lurking.

Friday’s pick was “way, way better than I ever expected,” Sentnor admitted.

“I am just so grateful,” she said. “To have this opportunity and to be a part of the Royals, I think I came in just wanting to be a part of a team that was going to value and believe in me, and I believe this is the place.”

“I am just so grateful,” she added. “To have this opportunity and to be a part of the Royals, I think I came in just wanting to be a part of a team that was going to value and believe in me, and I believe this is the place.”

Playing professionally for the relaunched Royals was also surreal for Mozingo, who starred at Alta High in Sandy before beginning her collegiate career at UCLA prior to returning home to star for BYU, earning All-America status twice and leading the Cougars to two NCAA College Cup semifinals in three years.

“Honestly, it’s still Cloud 9,” said Mozingo, the fifth player from BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood’s program added to the Royals’ 2024 roster. “Obviously I had this goal to play professional soccer, but I had a very specific goal that I was shooting for the last two years, having the opportunity to have my family right there in my community, my extended family, everyone that I know right there behind me and to get the opportunity to play with pride for these people and for myself and for the state, it's just such a wonderful thing and I'm just so, so excited. That's just pushed me and motivated me in the past two years.”

The seven selections bring the Utah Royals’ roster up to 24 as they prepare to report to preseason at the Zions Bank Training Center in late January, ahead of the NWSL’s March 16 opening weekend.

It’s the bulk of the roster that will represent the club in Year 1 in the 14-team league, with sporting director Kelly Cousins saying the team currently plans to add “one or two” more players via free agency.

It’s also a group that has been hand-picked by Amy Rodriguez in her first time out as a head coach. Meeting “A-Rod” was nerve-wracking to several draftees; Flynn from Florida State recalled staring at a poster of the U.S. women’s national team on the bedroom wall of her childhood home, with Rodriguez staring back at her as she grew, trained and progressed in the game.

And then, there was the human side of the World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist.

“We’re all inspired by Amy,” Smith-Griffitts said. “You can tell that she really cares about us as people, but also as players. That’s inspiring, to know that the coach cares about you as a human being and not just what you do on the field.

“She wants our motto to be, ‘care about people and care about the ball.’ I think that will help us do really well.”

Here’s Utah’s roster as it stands after Friday’s draft (draft picks italicized):

• GK: Mandy Haught (Gotham FC), Carly Nelson (Orlando Pride), Cristina Roque (Florida State)

• DF: Kaleigh Riehl (San Diego Wave), Madison Pogarch (San Diego Wave), Kate Del Fava (KC Current), Addisyn Merrick (KC Current), Lauren Flynn (Florida State), Olivia Smith-Griffitts (BYU), Zoe Burns (Southern Cal)

• MF: Mikayla Cluff (Orlando Pride), Michele Vasconcelos (Portland Thorns), Emily Gray (North Carolina Courage), Frankie Tagliaferri (North Carolina Courage), Agnes Nybert (IK Uppsala – Sweden), Dana Foederer (Fortuna Sittard – Netherlands), Ally Sentnor (Univ. of North Carolina), Emma Jaskaniec (Wisconsin)

• FW: Hannah Betfort (Portland Thorns), Imani Dorsey (Gotham FC), Paige Monaghan (Racing Louisville), Ify Onumonu (Gotham FC), Cameron Tucker (Houston Dash), Brecken Mozingo (BYU)