Real Monarchs overcome 2-0 deficit, beat BYU 3-2

Real Monarchs managed a win against a tricky BYU side, beating their neighbors, a PDL side, 3-2 in a friendly.

Garrett Gee, more a local entrepreneur than a pro-soccer-hopeful opened the scoring in the sixth minute to rocket the college side ahead. With five minutes left in the first half, Christian Bain gave BYU a 2-0 lead, leaving Real Monarchs a bit scraggly and rough around the edges.

All of that should perhaps be tempered by the fact that the three-man defensive line for Monarchs featured two academy players (Mckay Eves and Miles Stray) and one Monarchs player without much time under his belt (Marvin Baumgartner), and while they generally did well enough, the team didn't look particularly comfortable with the formation.

Real Monarchs clawed their way back into the game early in the second half, when Jonathan Caparelli, a trialist who featured for Monarchs in their friendly against the Real Salt Lake academy, scored for the away side with a stunning free kick from just outside the box.

A 60th minute complete lineup switch (save goalkeeper Victor Rodriguez, who played the full match) saw Monarchs come out with an ostensibly first-choice lineup.

From that point forward, Monarchs controlled nearly everything, and two goals from Sundly, the man of the half-hour, sealed a 3-2 win for the team.

Sundly's first, the game-tying goal, came from a shot taken as the ball was cut back diagonally through the box. The second came from a corner, with a ball bouncing around a heap of players before Sundly was able to finish it off.

Notably, a number of trialists, academy players, and Utah-based youth players saw time in the match.

The biggest name was perhaps James Rogers, a midfielder who was drafted by Sporting Kansas City this year but was cut before the July 1 deadline.

Trialists

Jonathan Caparelli

James Rogers

Unknown first-half player

Academy players

Mckay Eves

Miles Stray

Junior Estrada

Utah youth players

Nico Ovalle

Taylor Booth

Unknown last-few-minutes player