BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — One streak ended while another continued for the Utah Royals.
The local NWSL side still has not lost a game since Aug. 8, with a 2-2 draw in Chicago, that extends the unbeaten streak to eight games. It looked like Utah would also extend its win streak to four games after Mina Tanaka gave the road team a 2-0 lead in the 66th minute, but the Stars responded with two late goals to tie.
“It’s disappointing, because when you go on the road and you’re up two-nothing, that’s huge,” captain Paige Monaghan said. “It’s hard to win road games, and then to give up two goals really just hurt.”
The Chicago goals came in the 83rd and 86th minutes, after Tanaka scored the opener from the edge of the box in the 59th minute and then earned her first NWSL brace seven minutes later from the penalty spot on a Chicago handball. The two goals make Tanaka the team leader in goals on the season with five.
A big part of Utah’s increased success over the last two months has been thanks to a healthier squad, but that might have taken a hit early on in Sunday’s match with another injury to center-back Kaleigh Riehl.
The team’s turnaround in early August coincided almost perfectly with Riehl’s return to the starting lineup after recovering from a lower leg injury. The 28-year-old Virginia native was forced to leave Sunday’s match in the ninth minute, however, after what head coach Jimmy Coenraets suspected was a pulled hamstring.
“I think (Kaleigh) will probably be an end-of-season (injury),” Coenraets said with just three games remaining. “We’ll see what happens, but yeah, I think it’s fair to say we have to rule her out for next week.”
The Royals return to Utah for two of their final three games of the 2025 season, starting on Saturday, Oct. 11, against the San Diego Wave, who currently occupy the eighth and final playoff spot in the NWSL standings.
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