Player Ratings: Utah Royals FC 1; North Carolina Courage 2

STARTERS

Nicole Barnhart: 6 - Neither goal scored was Barnhart’s fault. She played well for most of the game but had a mistake when the game first started that could’ve ended badly.

Kelley O’Hara: 7 - O’Hara played pretty well in her second game back with the Royals. She was involved both offensively and defensively. One problem I noticed was she was nowhere to be seen on North Carolina’s second goal.

Becky Sauerbrunn: 7- Sauerbrunn kept her side locked down for the most part last night, playing well against a strong North Carolina attack. She was the only defender left to defend on North Carolina’s second goal after Rachel Corsie mistimed her tackle.

Rachel Corsie: 3.5 - It’s not often that Rachel Corsie has a bad game. This was one of those times. On the first North Carolina goal, she didn’t close space like she should’ve, giving the attacker plenty of room to shoot the ball. On the second goal, she mistimed her tackle, leaving Becky Sauerbrunn and Nicole Barnhart to defend the net.

Katie Bowen: 6 - Bowen was also involved in both the offense and defense. She was also missing during the second goal, but she had a good night overall.

Desiree Scott: 7 - Scott had a great night. She disrupted the attack as much as she could and had a couple of vital interceptions that led to offensive chances.

Gunny Jonsdottir: 4.5 - Jonsdottir hasn’t been playing too well the past couple of matches, the game against North Carolina being notable. She was subbed off and the streak of playing every single minute in club history is now over.

Lo’eau LaBonta: 5.5 - LaBonta didn’t have an eventful evening, but she had some good plays. She had a rocket that the North Carolina keeper had to save.

Vero Boquete: 6.5 - It was good to have Boquete back in the field. She tried her best to get the offense going and had an assist in the only Royals goal of the night.

Amy Rodriguez: 5 - Rodriguez was strangely quiet against the Courage. She made good runs, but her teammates couldn’t get the ball to her.

Christen Press: 8.5 - Press once again had a world class goal for the second week in a row. She was the most dangerous player on the pitch.

SUBSTITUTES

Katie Stengel: 5 - Stengel was unable to bring an offensive spark to the Royals, but she didn’t have any mistakes either.

Mallory Weber: 7 - Weber brought a lot of energy and fight to an offense that hadn’t done much after scoring the goal. She pushed and fought to get scoring chances.

Erika Tymrak: N/A