Utah pro soccer: Real Monarchs clinch MLSNP playoff bid, Utah Royals among hottest teams in NWSL
Maybe no one wants to play the Royals, who are unbeaten in five following a 3-2 win over Racing Louisville on Friday night.
SANDY, Utah (Sept. 21, 2025) — At least one Utah professional soccer club will play in the postseason, while another is surging as one of the hottest teams in the league.
Mina Tanaka, Janni Thomsen and Cloé Lacasse each scored a goal, and Mandy McGlynn made three saves as Utah Royals FC held on for a 3-2 win over Racing Louisville on Friday night in front of 8,426 fans in Sandy, Utah.
Maybe no one wants to play the Royals, who are unbeaten in six with a second consecutive win.
On the same weekend Kansas City clinched the NWSL Shield given to the league’s regular-season champion with a 2-0 win over Seattle Reign FC, Utah has shown that pride is also a significant motivator.
The Royals (4-11-6, 18 points) are officially out of the basement of the 14-team NWSL, now three points clear of Chicago with the win over 10th-place Louisville.
Utah’s six-match unbeaten run that includes three wins and three draws is the second-best current run of form in the league, behind on the Current.
“I think everybody knows we had a rough stretch of the season, but we wanted to turn the page after that July CBA break,” Lacasse said after the club’s third win in four games. “I think we’ve done that so far. We’ve been fortunate that a lot of people have come back, that we’ve been picking up steam, people are competing for spots, and it shows that this group is competitive.
“We want to show our fans that we have a fantastic squad, that we’re a force to be reckoned with, and people need to know that now.”
Real Monarchs pushed the Utah Soccer pyramid (which also includes Real Salt Lake) within 3 points of the organization’s second consecutive nine-point weekend wotj a 3-1 win over LAFC at Titan Stadium in Fullerton, California.
The win permanently pushes the Monarchs (11-7-8, 45 points) into MLS NEXT Pro playoff territory, with a crucial 3 points to keep hold of a 3-point edge on Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 for fourth in the Western Conference.
Jesus Barea scored his team-high ninth goal of the season, and Marcos Zambrano notched his fifth in his final match before departing for international duty with the United States at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.
Ruben Mesalles also had his fourth goal of the year, finishing the service from Lucas Moisa in the 79th minute of a game that saw three of the four goals in the final 12 minutes and stoppage time.
“The fascinating thing about this league is when you go on the road, teams to have a better lineup; it’s easier to put first-team guys in at home than when you’re playing away. So you never know what you’re going to face on the road,” Real Monarchs coach Mark Lowry told Salt City Soccer after the club’s 2-1 win over Ventura County. “We don’t know who we’re going to have on a weekly basis (either).
“Next week’s next week. We don’t know what we’ll face or what we’ll have on the plane. But I think everybody is in that part of the season where the focus is on performing, on the road or at home.”
Unbeaten in five of their last six with three wins in the last five matches, the Monarchs travel to Choctaw Stadium and North Texas SC on Saturday before the regular-season finale Sunday, Oct. 5 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman (2 p.m. MT, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).
“If we want to achieve our objectives,” Lowry added, “we want to really win out the rest of the season.”