Utah pro soccer: Real Salt Lake climbs back into playoff chase during historic 9-point weekend
The 3-pronged Utah pro soccer outfit of RSL, Utah Royals FC and Real Monarchs collected 9 points in a three-hour span Saturday night across three separate states.
Real Salt Lake’s 3-1 home win over visiting Austin FC late Saturday night wasn’t just a much-needed 3 points to creep back into the MLS Playoff race.
It wasn’t even just the end of a two-match losing skid, or the third win in the last eight — though both are technically true, as well.
Saturday night’s match helped cement rare history across the Utah pro soccer pyramid.
All three professional clubs of RSL, Utah Royals FC and Real Monarchs won within a three-hour span on Saturday, which is just the third time in history the outfit collected 9 points from the same match week.
It’s also the second time such an achievement happened this season, joining the Sept. 12-14 weekend — marking the first time two 9-point weekends have been achieved in a single season (the other came in 2019).
But for Salt Lake, the most important part of a three-goal effort by Braian Ojeda — his fifth across all competitions this season — DeAndre Yedlin and Victor Olatunji was a must-win scenario that keeps the Salt Lake side just 1 point behind ninth place in the Western Conference at 11-16-4, and even on points per game with San Jose (10-14-8, 1.9 points per game).
“It’s been a tough week,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni admitted after the match. “Obviously, the scoreline; I think the performances were really good against LAFC … And as a coach, it’s really important not to be emotional about results when teams are performing well.
“I think tonight was case in point,’ he added. “The guys went out, and credited to everyone. It wasn’t a great week in training; we all feel what results are like. But my job is to stay positive, to find the silver lining, and I think the guys played the same way they played against LAFC — but defended better and made plays in the attacking third. Credit to everyone in that locker room.”
Meanwhile, Utah Royals FC (5-11-6, 21 points) kept up its run of form as the hottest team in the National Women’s Soccer League, pouring it on for a 2-0 road win over Bay FC that stretched its unbeaten run to a club-record seven consecutive matches.
The match was full of firsts, too.
Aisha Solorzano’s first-ever goal was the first by a Guatemalan player in NWSL history, rookie Mia Justus recorded her first-ever clean sheet between the sticks, Janni Thomsen kept up her run of former a goal for the second straight game, and newly acquired Lara Prašnikar made her NWSL debut as the Royals jumped 2 points ahead of Bay for 12th in the league table.
With four matches to go, Utah is just 3 points behind Angel City FC for 11th place ahead of Sunday’s road tilt at Chicago (2 p.m. MT, NWSL+). Technically, only 8 points currently separate the Royals and eighth-place Racing Louisville, which holds the final playoff spot in the NWSL (at the moment).
“I think we’ve really honed in on the little things and executed our press pretty well these last 6-7 games,” Justus said. “If we’re able to keep doing that, I think we’ll find more success.”
Perhaps the top team in the pyramid in its respective league, Real Monarchs all-but locked up the No. 4 seed in the West in the MLS NEXT Pro playoffs with a 4-2 road win over North Texas SC.
Mark Lowry’s side pushed up to 12-7- and 48 points with one match remaining largely due to Jesus Barea, the RSL first-round draft pick who had two goals for 11 on his rookie campaign (in 17 matches).
Monarchs will host Vancouver Whitecaps 2 in the regular-season finale Sunday at 2 p.m. MT at Zions Bank Stadium.
