SANDY — Ten months is a pretty quick turnaround for a professional athlete returning from an ACL tear, but not for Cloe Lacasse.
“This is what I planned,” Lacasse said after her first game action since her injury in October. “Maybe for the outside world, this might be a little bit early, but it’s really not for me.”
The 32-year-old striker was cleared off the injury list on Thursday and subbed on for fellow Canadian Bianca St-Georges in the 67th minute with the match tied 0-0 between last-place Utah and first-place Kansas City, who featured former Royals star Ally Sentnor.
A goal from Lacasse or Sentnor would have been poetic on Friday night at America First Field, but the crowd got neither, as the lone goal came in the 82nd minute from Kansas City’s Temwa Chawinga. It was her 10th goal of the season to tie her for the NWSL lead with Gotham’s Esther Gonzalez.
Lacasse nearly had her storybook moment and the equalizer in the final second of stoppage time, but her header off the pinpoint cross from Janni Thomsen sailed just over the bar to end the match in a 1-0 loss for the Royals.
“I got there maybe just a little bit too late that I kind of had to compensate and lean back, but next time,” Lacasse said. “I’m happy with what I did tonight. Now it’s just about growth and our team being able to get the results going forward.”
The loss extended Utah’s winless streak to 10 games and Kansas City’s win streak to eight games, with the visitors moving 13 points clear of second place Orlando, and Utah maintaining its spot in last place with 6 points.
Still, massive strides have been made by the Royals in getting healthier and more competitive in recent weeks. Four players, including Lacasse and captain Paige Monaghan, came off the injury report from last week, and Utah held the top two teams in the league to just one goal each over the last two matches.
It’s a far cry from the five-match stretch in May and June when the Royals conceded three or more goals to five different teams in a row.
“Everyone gets to a higher level of competition, (and that’s) exactly what we need right now,” head coach Jimmy Coenraets said. “Everyone, not to feel scared, but just to feel like, ‘I have to be meeting all the standards and more to earn my spot.'”
The NWSL transfer window closes on Aug. 25, and Coenraets said the expectation is that “outgoing players will be replaced.” That would include Sentnor, at the very least, who fetched a reported $600,000 fee from Kansas City, and possibly defender Ana Maria Guzman as well, who left last month after finishing her loan.
Coenraets said, however, that the “biggest transfer” of the summer for the Royals is the return of Lacasse, who led Utah last season with four goals and scored the first hat trick in club history just a week before tearing her ACL.
“Every coach will shout for more players and better players and whatever, but my shout right now is to keep them fit and make them compete,” Coenraets said. “And I think these kinds of performances with the group that we have, we can keep on building.”
The Royals stay at home for another Friday night matchup next week against Angel City at 8 p.m. MDT.
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