'Uncharted territory' for Utah Royals top goalscorer missing start of season in ACL recovery

HERRIMAN — On Oct. 13, Canadian forward Cloe Lacasse scored the first hat trick in Utah Royals FC history.

Seven days later, she ruptured her ACL and sprained her MCL, an injury that will keep her out until at least the NWSL's return from summer break in August, but more likely into the fall.

"My career has not been short of obstacles, and this one is just another obstacle down the road at the end of the day," Lacasse told media Monday at the Royals' training facility in Herriman. "I am a true believer that every given challenge that's put in your way is a position of growth."

The year-long recovery from ACL surgery is the most intense of Ontario-native Lacasse's 10-year professional career, which took her to Iceland, Portugal and England before finally returning to the U.S., where she played college soccer for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

One of the main reasons Lacasse came to Utah in August was to be closer to friends and family for support, which has become all the more important going through a long-term injury that she said can feel "super isolating at times."

"I haven't met any (player) that wants to be injured, that wants to be sidelined," Lacasse said. "And being the competitor that I am, it is pretty painful to be on the sideline. But that's the way it is right now, and the best I can do is get better every day and progress in my recovery so that I can be out there for the team hopefully here in the near future."

In the meantime, Lacasse is doing her best to take control of her recovery journey and inspire others in similar situations by documenting her steps along the way on Instagram. Her first "journal entry" was posted on Nov. 12, and entry No. 7 was posted on Tuesday.

Topics range from her first — sometimes frustrating — interactions with people after the injury to the challenges of rebuilding muscle following ACL surgery.

"I hope to give others a glimpse into what recovery really looks like, and, hopefully, it can be a source of strength for those who might feel alone in their own process," Lacasse said in her first journal entry caption.

There has been a learning curve for Lacasse going through her first long-term injury, and not just from a physical standpoint. She said the support she's received from teammates and coaches has been "overwhelming" as she has learned to accept help and the "good problem" of having people care for you.

The comments on each Instagram post from Lacasse are littered with words of thanks and support from fans and players alike, including a "Keep it up legend," from teammate Ally Sentnor.

"I've had to learn to accept people feeling certain ways during this recovery process, because this is all new to them as well, for my friends and my family," Lacasse said. "So yeah, it's been received really well, but it is, like I said, uncharted territory for me."

Lacasse's late-season hat trick made her the leading goalscorer in the Royals' first season back in Utah with four goals in NWSL play, creating a vacancy up top for a starting striker beginning on March 15 against Bay FC.

Sentnor was the team's second-leading scorer and actually led the team in 2025 overall with five goals if you include the Summer Cup matches. She and fellow SheBelieves Cup MVP finalist Mina Tanaka totaled six combined goals in the three-game international tournament and figure to be major motors for the Utah attack early on.

The other option up top earned a shoutout from Lacasse as she talked about her expectations for a young Royals team with "a lot of promise (and) a lot of growth."

"I'm excited to see what KK (Ream) brings to the team this year," Lacasse said, referring to the 15-year-old Utah native signed by the club in December. "She's young. She's lively."

Though Ream and Lacasse are 16 years apart, the two new teammates have an ACL injury and recovery in common, with Ream requiring knee surgery at just 13 years old.

As Lacasse shared in her first journal entry, "It's rarely an 'if' — it's a 'when," long-term injury comes for you in soccer, and her "when" just happened to come at a time when she seemed to be hitting her stride with the Royals.

The club waited six years for its first hat trick, so what's a few more months?

"The goal is to get out there and help the team in whatever capacity that I can," Lacasse said. "And hopefully I can kick off the way I ended before this injury last season."

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