Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — First thing’s first: give the credit to Nicole Barnhart.
The Utah Royals FC goalkeeper picked up her fifth shutout of the season Saturday night in the Royals’ 1-0 win over winless Sky Blue FC and she deserved it, making five saves to keep the visitors at bay on a night head coach Laura Harvey could only describe as “ugly” and “gritty” and anything but pretty.
But go a little deeper into that shutout, and you’ll see more than a standout goalkeeper on defense. You’ll see a backline led by Sam Johnson, Becca Moros and rookies Gaby Vincent and Michelle Maemone, each sacrificing their health, their play and even their own bodies to keep balls out of the back of the net.
You’ll see midfielder Mallory Weber, the preseason acquisition from Portland who replaced the injured Vero Boquete in the 35th minute but spent her most minutes of the season digging in, seeking out crosses, and keeping the Sky Blue attack on the back foot.
Then there’s Erika Tymrak and Amy Rodriguez, more often known for what they bring to Utah’s attack — but ever-so-eager to provide the bite to get the job done on defense.
On Rodriguez’s goal Saturday night — her fifth of the season and the only one Utah needed — the 32-year-old striker started the sequence with a touch off Maemone’s throw-in in the Royals’ defensive third. She dished to an open Gunny Jonsdottir — yes, that Gunny Jonsdottir, who less than 72 hours previous played a full match in Finland — before taking the bounce-back 50 yards downfield en route to a sensational 30-yard screamer into the back of the net.
In short, the shutout Saturday night? The one that is Utah’s fifth of the season, the most in NWSL play in 2019?
It came because of the total team defense.
As the Dutch used to say: totaalvoetbal.
“Defense is a huge part of this team. It’s a reason why we win so many games and walk away with so many clean sheets,” Rodriguez said. “Credit to Barney in goal; I thought she did excellent and made some huge saves for us. But all around, the team defense was excellent. We just kept going and going, and didn’t give up.
“That’s what it takes to win in this league.”
Defense goes beyond the goalkeeper. It goes beyond the defensive setup, extends beyond a formation that usually includes anywhere from three-five defense-first players.
It travels up the spine of the team, into the midfield and out on each wing.
It even loops in the forwards — players who specialize in the one thing that is opposite of defense: scoring goals.
At least, that’s how Harvey’s teams play. And that’s how the Utah Royals are playing in 2019, their second season on the Wasatch Front, content to improve on last year’s fifth-place performance in the nine-team National Women’s Soccer League that kept them just out of position for the playoffs.
The postseason is the goal.
And defense is how the Royals (5-2-1, 16 points) plan on achieving that goal.
“We have ourselves in a fairly decent spot in the standings,” Barnhart said. “We still have two big games coming up in this stretch, where we definitely need to get some points out of these next two games.”
Utah is in the midst of a crucial stretch of its season. Already missing six players to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France — including U.S. internationals Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara and Christen Press — the Royals know the points they accrue before the league’s full allotment of international talent return could make or break their season.
The most crucial of that stretch started Saturday, making the three points taken from Sky Blue vital. They are the type of points that the Royals of yesteryear would’ve dropped, for better or for worse.
This year’s Utah team, though, is different. This year’s Utah team can handle a little pressure. They can handle the siege of a league that knows it is coming, from teams that trail the Royals in the standings — all but one, at least, the Washington Spirit, which leads the Royals by one point with eight games played.
This year’s Royals know what the next month of the season means, including Friday’s match at Portland (9 p.m. MDT, KMYU & KSL.com).
“For me, I think these three games define our season,” Harvey said. “I think these are the games last year that we didn’t win. We had a similar stretch last year, roughly against the same teams, and I don’t think we won any of them.
“It was what made us go from having a real chance to clinging on — but we started out with three points. The players know that these next three games are vital to our season.”
