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Speaking to reporters over Zoom after a draw with the Providence Park, Utah Royals forward Clo\u00e9 Lacasse<\/a> recalled a conversation with her teammates about expectations.\u00a0<\/p>\n From the outside, it sure looks like the Royals have wildly surpassed most of them. They\u2019re ranked second in the NWSL (the highest they\u2019ve been since the franchise returned in 2024) and have dramatically overcome a 0-2 start with a 10-game unbeaten streak.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were kind of asking ourselves, like, do we think we\u2019ve had our best game, and I don\u2019t think there was any player that said yes,\u201d Lacasse said. \u201cWe\u2019re just pushing for improvements, and we\u2019re pushing for excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n Lacasse herself has shown improvements. She\u2019s tied for the team lead with four goals, which also ties her own career high in Utah. She also has a career-high three assists through 12 matches and is taking on an increased leadership role as one of just two 30-year-olds on the squad.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was definitely growing pains, but now things are looking good, and they\u2019re also looking like it\u2019s something that we can maintain,\u201d Lacasse said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a tough couple of years for the Utah Royals, who made their return to the NWSL in 2024. The franchise\u2019s first run lasted just three seasons, 2018 to 2020.<\/p>\n The 2024 squad debuted with former player Amy Rodriguez<\/a> at the helm, but that experiment ended prematurely, as the two sides parted ways with the Utah in last place at the end of June. Jimmy Coenraets, an assistant then, was elevated to interim head coach and led the Royals to a 5-4-2 record to end the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ahead of the team\u2019s final match, the Royals announced their decision to keep him at the helm through 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Royals battled a litany of injuries the following season, with Tatumn Milazzo<\/a>, Alex Loera<\/a> and Lacasse missing significant time due to knee injuries.\u00a0They finished 12th out of 14 teams with 25 points.<\/p>\n But now, through just 12 matches, Utah is one point shy of its 2025 point total and appears to be in serious contention for a title. The Royals\u2019 final game before the break \u2013 a 2-2 draw on the road with the top-ranked Portland Thorns \u2013 might be the best example yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was unfortunate that they were able to get one before us, because I thought we actually had some really brilliant moments in that first half, but yeah, I think that\u2019s a big development in our game,\u201d Lacasse told reporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Captain Kate Del Fava<\/a> kept her answer a little more direct, telling reporters, \u201cA tie on the road is a sign of a championship-level team.<\/p>\n So far this year, the Royals actually have one of the league\u2019s best road records at 3-1-3. Only San Diego has more wins (5), and no one has more draws. The other two came against Washington and Bay FC.\u00a0<\/p>\n More impressive, they came back from behind against Washington and Portland. Utah played Bay to a scoreless draw during a franchise-record 536-minute shutout streak, which ran from the 73rd minute on March 28 to the 22nd minute on May 17.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s six clean sheets have been split between Mandy McGlynn<\/a> and Mia Justus<\/a>, who\u2019ve played seven and six matches, respectively. Justus has 18 saves in 24 shots on target and McGlynn has 12 in 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n Goal defense has been one of the team\u2019s biggest improvements year-over-year. Utah allowed 42 goals in 2025 and had only six clean sheets. Coach Jimmy Coenraets credited that to the team\u2019s aggressive press that starts with the forwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow, how nice it is as a defender, as a center back, when you see you forward in the 90th minute pressing the heck out of the other team center backs, turning over the ball in dangerous areas, and it\u2019s just the style of play we want to play,\u201d Coenraets said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t give enough credit to that, that front line of players that we have, you know, the work rate, the dedication they have to the other side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Even better, the team is ranked third in the league for goals against and save percentage. The Royals are also tied for third in clean sheets.\u00a0<\/p>\n The next big challenge will be sustaining this success in the second half of the season after a month-long break for the men\u2019s FIFA World Cup. They\u2019ll pick back up on July 5 on the road against the Chicago Stars, then enter a sort of gauntlet, facing five of the league\u2019s top eight teams before Aug. 2.<\/p>\n But, if the first 12 matches are any indication, this team will put up a fight as they chase the franchise\u2019s first postseason bid.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super proud of the group and the dedication they\u2019ve had, and the willingness to do the hard stuff,\u201d Coenraets said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t fun a lot of the time, the last two years it wasn\u2019t easy, but it\u2019s nice that the girls get a little bit of a reward and feel good about this first half of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily<\/strong> \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.theixsports.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Speaking to reporters over Zoom after a draw with the Providence Park, Utah Royals forward Clo\u00e9 Lacasse recalled a conversation with her teammates about expectations.\u00a0 From the outside, it sure looks like the Royals have wildly surpassed most of them. They\u2019re ranked second in the NWSL (the highest they\u2019ve been since the franchise returned in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2468133,"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":[485569,485570,348419,441664,388066,441665,485571,352458,485572,188835],"class_list":["post-2468132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-alex-loera","tag-amy-rodriguez","tag-cloe-lacasse","tag-jimmy-coenraets","tag-kate-del-fava","tag-mandy-mcglynn","tag-mia-justus","tag-nwsl","tag-tatum-milazzo","tag-utah-royals"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/How-the-Utah-Royals-went-from-0-2-to-second-place.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468132","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=2468132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468134,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468132\/revisions\/2468134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2468133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2468132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2468132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2468132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women\u2019s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women\u2019s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!<\/p>\n
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