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Tonight, your Utah Royals FC faced the Portland Thorns for the first time in just their second ever home game. Although they did improve from last home game’s loss, they were unable to get the full three points for the first time yet. A 1-1 tie is what we were dealt tonight, let’s take a look back at how it happened.
The thing with this team is sometimes there will be some moments of pure beauty and then there are others where it just seems to go all wrong. This is a great description for the buildup to our two goals tonight as well. Amy Rodriguez took the ball, beat the keeper, beat another defender and just like that, history had been made. In the 53’ minute, ARod took the shot that will go down as the first ever Utah Royals FC home goal. Just imagine Brian Dunseth planting the flag but with Amy Rodriguez’ face for how incredible this moment was.
Unfortunately, however, URFC was unable to keep this lead. Tobin Heath came on in the 57th minute for Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic. This is when the Royals started to have their hands really full. Heath is known for being a speedy, very physical forward, and she didn’t hold back tonight. Within 10 minutes of being on the pitch, Heath took advantage of some miscommunication between the Royals and scored the tying goal.
The game would end 1-1 but another big note from this game, besides Amy Rodriguez playing 55 minutes, was that Katrina Gorry got her first every minute as a Utah Royal. Finally joining the team just earlier this week, Laura Harvey subbed her in for Diana Matheson in the 62nd minute.
The Royals just seem to be getting better and better, but what will it take for them to finally get 3 points? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.