One postgame moment of exuberance has become a rallying cry for Utah Royals FC.
In the moments following the Royals’ 1-0 win over San Diego, a victory that included four clutch saves by Mandy McGlynn, the veteran goalkeeper pulled her team together and said loud enough for a nearby microphone to capture it.
“Why the [expletive] not us?” she said.
The NWSL Playoffs have been apt for lower-seeded runs. So indeed, why not first-time playoff participants Utah?
A year ago, eighth-seeded Gotham FC ran through the playoffs to pull off one of the more unlikely titles in the 13-year history of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Two years earlier, Gotham was also the lowest seed of a then-six-team playoff field before lifting the championship trophy at midfield in San Diego.
That’s the thing about the NWSL, considered by many to be the best — or at least most talented and parity-driven — professional women’s soccer league in the world: upsets happen, and anybody can beat anybody.
So, yeah, why not the Utah Royals?
“Mandy definitely said it best the other night,” midfielder Madison Hammond said after training this week before the team traveled to Washington, D.C. for Saturday’s NWSL playoff semifinal against the Washington Spirit. “I can’t describe the adrenaline that I just came down from. It just sits in your stomach, where you have this belief in yourself and then you have a moment like that. It’s really palpable.
“There’s no way you can’t be like, why not us?”
This story was first printed for subscribers of The Salt Lake Tribune before the Utah Royals’ NWSL semifinal vs. Washington. It has been re-printed here in part with permission from the author.
You can read the full story here at sltrib.com, and watch the Royals against No. 3-seeded Washington Spirit at 10 a.m. MT Saturday morning on CBS.
