Turning a new Paige: Monaghan having career-best goal-scoring year for Utah Royals
The sixth-year veteran scored her fourth goal of the season in Friday night’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Reign, a single-season career-high for the former Royals expansion draft pick and club captain.
Paige Monaghan came to Utah as an expansion draft selection in 2023, was named team captain in 2024, and has become bonafide goal scorer for the Royals in 2025.
The sixth-year veteran scored her fourth goal of the season in Friday night’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Reign, a game that clinched a playoff spot for the Reign and assured a bottom-third finish for the Royals (5-13-7, 22 points).
But in the New Jersey native’s 60th-minute goal that briefly equalized for the visitors, Monaghan showed her confidence goal scoring acumen that she’s scarcely shown in her NWSL career.
It was far from a boring goal — a shot from distance after Monaghan forced a turnover and then turned over Seattle’s 1-0 halftime lead. But then again, has Monaghan ever scored a boring goal?
“I don’t know. Probably many,” she said with a laugh after the match. “But none of them really feel boring at the end of the day. Scoring (a goal) is probably a top-five feeling in the entire world.”
Sky Blue FC selected Monaghan with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 NWSL college draft, a former All-Big East Offensive Player of the Year who collected 22 goals and 18 assists in 80 games at Butler.
But Monaghan was rarely asked to be a primary goal scorer, finding the back of the net just six times in 57 appearances over three seasons with the rebranded NJ/NY Gotham FC before Racing Louisville traded a first-round pick and $150,000 in allocation money for the forward.
Playing primarily on the wing, Monaghan scored three times in 22 matches in 2023 for Louisville. That likely made her eligible for Utah’s expansion draft, and she was the only player from that drafted who wound up on the Royals’ roster.
Two years — and a nearly five-month injury rehab — later, Monaghan’s four goals are second on the team to Mina Tanaka’s six. For a club that is tied for last in the 14-team league with 26 goals scored, Monaghan has proven to be a vital piece of the Royals’ attack.
“I think the one thing Paige has is versatility,” said Utah manager Jimmy Coenraets, who has played Monaghan at right wing, left wing and wingback this season. “But if you score 4-5 goals in a season, it’s quite clear that you need to be higher up on the pitch.”
Utah will wrap up the regular season Sunday, Nov. 2 against the Washington Spirit at America First Field in Sandy. Then the work turns to the offseason, to rebuilding a midfield that will be without Claudia Zornoza in retirement, and to pulling the Royals out of its two-year stay among the bottom-four teams in the NWSL cellar.
But Monaghan, and a new confidence to score from just about anywhere, will be back; she signed a contract extension with the club in January, committing to the project through 2027.
“I think our group really came together (this year),” Monaghan said. “There’s so much love and respect in our locker room for each other. That’s really cool.”