HARRISON, N.J. – The Utah Royals FC fought off the consistent attack of the Gotham FC to steal a point at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday.
Gotham finished with the possession advantage, 12 more shot attempts, and six more shots on goal. However, Utah bent but didn’t break and kept the clean sheet.
After dropping six of seven in May and June, the Royals have steadied this month with three draws in four matches.
Leaving the east coast with +1 pic.twitter.com/jbN0mU9ds3
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) August 24, 2025
First Half
The first portion of the opening half played out relatively slowly.
There were two shot attempts, a miss from Gotham and a Royals attempt that was blocked. As the 20th minute came and went, the pace began to pick up.
Esther González was the first to put a shot on frame, but Utah goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn made a somewhat routine save in the center of the goal.
Rose Lavelle with the charge.
Esther González with shot.Mandy McGlynn with the STOP. pic.twitter.com/odpY7Qefh2
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 23, 2025
The next attempt came about 10 minutes later as Gotham’s Gabi Portilho looked to open scoring off a corner. Her attempt missed to the right.
Fast forward to the first half’s stoppage time, Utah got its first promising chance, but a frenzy in front of the goal actually ended up working against them.
The Royals took three shots in a span of 20 seconds, but congestion made it impossible to find a good angle. Ultimately, Gotham was able to get the ball out of the box and avoid conceding.
Chaos in the box!
Emily Sonnett with a clutch defensive stop 👀 pic.twitter.com/adtWRZI2CN
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 24, 2025
In the first half, the Royals won the possession battle at 51 percent and also took one more shot attempt than Gotham.
However, the scoreline remained untouched as the teams went into the locker rooms.
Scoreless through the first 45 pic.twitter.com/Y3KPrJojNN
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) August 24, 2025
Second Half
Any momentum or hope that was built by the Royals in the first 45′ was quickly struck down after the break.
In the first six minutes of the half, Gotham took four shots. Two were blocked and McGlynn got her gloves on the other two, but Utah clearly had its back against the wall.
When it rains, it pours. From the 54th to the 70th minute, Gotham continued to pile on the attempts. However, each attempt was quickly denied by the back line or McGlynn on the goal line.
The Royals’ attack finally gave the back line a chance to breathe in the 73rd minute as Paige Monaghan put the first shot on target of the half.
From there, the Gotham onslaught finally calmed down. They had just four more shot attempts to close the match, each spaced by about five minutes or more.
The Utah Royals’ defense has been questionable at times this season, but they came to play in New Jersey. They kept Gotham out of the books and were able to escape with a point.
Kale gets crowned POTM for her efforts in helping earn the clean sheet 👑 pic.twitter.com/TcuDwJZrt5
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) August 24, 2025
Follow the Utah Royals with KSL Sports
The Utah Royals will return home to take on Ally Sentnor and the Kansas City Current on Friday, August 8. Kickoff is at 8:00 p.m. MT.
Live radio calls of every game can be found on KSLSports.com. Select games will be broadcast on the KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM/1280 AM) and KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM/1160 AM).
Find KSL Sports coverage of the Utah Royals here.
Chandler Holt is a co-host of the Jazz Notes podcast, a Locals In The NFL Insider, and Digital Sports Producer for KSLSports.com. Follow Chandler on X for Utah Jazz and Locals In The NFL updates.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kslsports.com ’
