Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC each battled on the road Sunday in an exciting West Coast doubleheader. URFC headed to Lumen Field in Seattle to take on the Reign, earning a commanding 3-0 win, while RSL traveled to LA Galaxy, falling 2-1 after a late penalty for the home side broke the deadlock.
Real Salt Lake closed out its first three-match week of the season, looking to bounce back after the difficult 0-2 loss to Inter Miami CF at home on Wednesday. After battling back from conceding an early goal, 19-year-old Zavier Gozo scored the equalizer for the Claret-and-Cobalt in stoppage time, sending both sides into the locker room deadlocked at 1-1. With just five minutes remaining in regulation, the Galaxy was awarded a penalty, putting the home side up 2-1 and handing RSL its second consecutive loss for the first time in 2026, and just the 19th of the 192-game Pablo Mastroeni era.
In Seattle, Utah Royals FC started off its match on fire, and just 54 seconds in, Japanese attacker Mina Tanaka took advantage of a poor goal kick, taking over possession in the box before sending it to forward Paige Cronin, whose perfectly-placed ball marked a historic goal in the Royals’ six-season history as the earliest ever. Just six minutes later, midfielder Narumi Miura scored from long range to give the visitors an early 2-0 lead. The Royals finished out the first half on a high, scoring a third goal in stoppage time to take a 3-0 halftime lead. URFC continued its strong form, keeping the home side scoreless in the match to earn its first win at Seattle since 2019.
“We’ve got to overcome and own what we can control. As a group we need to own everything and put our best foot forward to do our best in this next match against Portland,” RSL Head coach Mastroeni said.
“It was great that we got a lot of our injured players back tonight, we got Narumi back on the pitch, we got Paige out there, and when you get your group back to being cohesive and training again, it makes us super competitive,” said Cloé Lacasse. “It’s an honor to represent this club and we’re going to go out there and take every situation and capitalize. We were just super proud to wear the badge, and it was great to see the group come out and compete today.”
The Claret-and-Cobalt started off mostly in its defensive end, after conceding a foul just outside the penalty box in the ninth minute. Iconic German star Marco Reus gave the home side the early lead off the resultant free kick. After a questionable tackle against RSL was not ruled a foul, the visitors countered, getting RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral out of position for a wide-open net that homegrown defender Justen Glad heroically blocked to keep the deficit at just one. Minutes later, homegrown midfielder Aiden Hezarkhani showcased impeccable footwork, dribbling the ball into the box and sending it through to Utah native Gozo, whose shot ricocheted off the post and LA’s keeper to even up the score just before halftime. After a hard-fought half with multiple chances and a massive solo effort by Cabral, the late LA penalty kick proved too much for RSL, which came up short on the road, falling 2-1.
Utah Royals FC was back in action tonight after the April FIFA International break, key players rejoined the roster, including Cronin, making her 2026 debut and Japanese forward Miura making her URFC debut. The score by Cronin in the first minute of play marks the first time in club history the Royals have scored within the first minute, also the fourth-fastest goal in NWSL history. Following Narumi’s seventh-minute goal, Utah Royals FC midfielder Ana Tejada sent a perfectly-placed ball through the defense to Lacasse, who netted a third goal for Utah in first-half stoppage. The shutout win for URFC marks the squad’s third consecutive win of 2026, vaulting the team to third place overall in the standings, a historic start to the 2026 campaign.
Utah Soccer now celebrates another doubleheader weekend next Saturday, May 2, with Real Salt Lake returning home to host the Portland Timbers at America First Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. MDT, and the match will be streamed on AppleTV with tickets available for purchase at www.RSL.com/tickets. Utah Royals FC remain on the road for another week, heading to downtown Los Angeles to face Angel City FC at 6:30 p.m. MDT, with fans able to tune in on ION TV (check local listings; channel 16 in Utah).