2024 collective bargaining agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\nMonaghan, who had the opportunity to play with Dorsey while both at Sky Blue FC and when the club became Gotham FC, had high praise for Dorsey and her legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has done so much for the sport, on and off the field,\u201d Monaghan said. \u201cShe has been a trailblazer, and to have her and be a role model for me has been everything, so she\u2019s left her mark for sure, and she\u2019s creating waves for us that allows us to continue in the way we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the second game of the 2024 season, Dorsey tore her Achilles. She was able to return from the injury this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Imani is \u2014 keep on saying the same \u2014 is probably one of the most intelligent players I\u2019ve ever worked with, down to earth, intelligent, very hard working, a lot of good conversations and sometimes hard conversations,\u201c Utah coach Jimmy Coenraets said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she understood that hard conversation are actually conversations about performance and making players better, not necessarily hard conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claudia Zornoza\u2019s retirement<\/h3>\n
Claudia Zornoza started Sunday\u2019s match and was subbed off in the 79th minute and walked off the pitch for the last time.<\/p>\n
Coenraets said he offered the captain\u2019s armband to Zornoza today with Monaghan\u2019s support, but Zornoza declined, not wanting the special treatment or attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s kind of how she is. If you look back at her career and all of players in this league that can present what she presents as a CB, and I think she just shows greatness in everything she does,\u201d Coenraets said.<\/p>\n
Zornoza, who hails from Spain, gave her farewell message in English and thanked both the fans and the club. Coenraets described her speech in her non-native tongue as \u201camazing\u201d and an \u201cexcellent speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monaghan said Zornoza \u201cbrought such a flare\u201d to the Royals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s just been incredible, and she taught me so much leadership wise, and just experience,\u201d Monaghan said. \u201cWe needed that, you know? We needed her last year, and she stepped in and did everything for us, and we\u2019ll really miss her.\u201d <\/p>\n
The midfielder, who logged 1,916 minutes this season, spoke with reporters through an interpreter following the game and discussed her career and time with the Royals.<\/p>\n
Zornoza gave a surprising answer when asked by the Deseret News what she considered the highlight of her 17-year career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had lots of success in my career, but I would choose my two ACL injuries,\u201d she said. \u201cLots of people see that as a negative, but I think it\u2019s great. I learned soccer in a different perspective. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know Real Madrid took me to the Championships League and I went to the World Cup, but I see that injury as something good and it just changed my perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zornoza joined the Royals in July 2024 and signed a deal through the 2025 season with an option for 2026, but she decided to call it a career because, she said, \u201cback home, my family needs me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2023 FIFA World Cup champion scored three goals and recorded five assists as a Royal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI going to remember my teammates. I\u2019ll remember how this league was competitive,\u201d Zornoza said. \u201cI\u2019m glad to have been a part of this league. I learned a lot from that.\u201d <\/p>\n
Olivia Griffitts\u2019 retirement<\/h3>\n
The Royals drafted Griffitts 20th overall out of BYU in the 2024 NWSL Draft. She appeared in and played in 13 games as a rookie and scored her first and only NWSL goal in her third-ever game on April 20, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to thank all of you from Utah for providing me the opportunity to play professional soccer. I\u2019m so grateful for all of the memories, for the friendships that I\u2019ve made while here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Coenraets described Griffitts as the type of player \u201cwhom you could say, like, \u2018Look, there\u2019s a wall. Just run through it.\u2019 She\u2019ll do it, and I think that\u2019s just the type of players, type of personalities that you want this area, this team, to have, because I do feel like that\u2019s what Utah is, this adventurous, fearless kind of players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffitts began the season on maternity leave, and after giving birth, announced she\u2019d be stepping away from soccer. Her last match was Sept. 28, 2024.<\/p>\n
She gave birth to her daughter, Navy Olivia, in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it was super hard to step away from the game, I\u2019m really excited for this new chapter in my life to be a mom, and I\u2019ve already loved it so much and I just can\u2019t wait for more,\u201d Griffitts said.<\/p>\n
Monaghan expressed her excitement for Griffitts as she embarks on her new chapter of motherhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Liv to be the first mom of the Utah Royals, like for this generation, is huge, and again, another example,\u201d she said. \u201cShe\u2019s just a sweetie, so we\u2019re happy for her. But of course, we\u2019ll miss her, but excited for her next chapter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Utah Royals FC finished its second season back in the NWSL with a 6-13-7 record and in 12th place in the 14-team league.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.deseret.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In what captain Paige Monaghan described as a \u201cbittersweet\u201d night, Utah Royals FC beat the Washington Spirit 1-0 and said goodbye to three players in the final game of the season Sunday. Monaghan scored the lone goal in the victory and the Royals\u2019 sixth win of the 2025 season. Following the win, Claudia Zornoza, Imani […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[323007],"class_list":["post-2134097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-royalty","tag-news-feed-national"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2134098,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134097\/revisions\/2134098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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