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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An equalizer just before halftime gave the Utah Royals false hope as a 1-1 tie gave way to a 5-1 loss in Louisville to drop the team to 1-4 on the season.
Uchenna Kanu opened the scoring for Louisville in the 26th minute, and the tying goal for Utah came from BYU alumna Olivia Griffitts on a powerful strike across goal in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.
Liv's first pro goal couldn't have come at a better time pic.twitter.com/BLhdNAH7yS
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) April 20, 2024
The home team went on to score four goals in the second half, however, capped off by two in the final minutes to send a depleted Royals team home defeated.
"It was tough in that second half, when the team is bleeding and you're just trying to cover it with a band-aid," head coach Amy Rodriguez said. "I told the team after the game that momentum is so powerful in this league. We're a young team, and sometimes we've got to dig ourselves out of a hole and we just couldn't do that today."
The five goals from Louisville are the most the Royals have conceded dating back to the team's previous iteration and the four-goal deficit ties the largest losing margin set in a 4-0 loss to Portland in July 2018.
Utah managed just two shots on goal to 10 for Louisville in what became a beating of a Royals team missing six players on the road. Madison Pogarch conceded a penalty to Louisville in the 78th minute, a stat the Royals now begrudgingly lead the NWSL in.
"The PK burned a little bit. That one hurt," Rodriguez said. "As many PKs as this team has fought against this year, I still had a little bit of hope in my group, but that one definitely felt like a dagger."
The barrage of goals put a damper on an otherwise exciting day for Utah as Griffitts scored her first professional goal and Kaysville native Mikayla Cluff made her first start for the Royals this season.
The starting midfield of Agnes Nyberg (hip) and Dana Foederer (concussion) was unavailable Saturday due to injuries, giving way to Cluff and rookie Zoe Burns, with first-overall pick Ally Sentnor also sliding back into a midfield role. Five rookies in total started for Utah on Saturday.
The Royals will hope to get healthy and back on track when they return to Utah to take on the Houston Dash next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MDT at America First Field.
