Monarchs road trip ends Wednesday in Colorado Springs

The Monarchs current four match road trip will come to an end tomorrow night at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs against the Switchbacks. With 32 points, exactly double the Monarchs’ 16 points, Colorado Springs is in second place in the Mountain Division. Hadji Barry has 20 goals for the Switchbacks this season and currently leads the Golden Boot race by 7 goals. His 20 goals also equals the entire offensive output for the Monarchs this season.

The first of the Monarchs’ four matches this season against Colorado Springs on July 4th ended in 3-1 victory for the Switchbacks. After Wednesday’s match the two teams will meet twice at Zions Bank Stadium, which means 25% of the Monarchs remaining regular season games will be against the Switchbacks league leading offense.

The Monarchs, under Head Coach Jamison Olave, have continued to field a very youthful lineup with numerous appearances by RSL Academy players and have signed Gavin Beavers, Julio Benitez and Jaziel Orozco to professional USL contracts during this season. As the new 2020-21 MLS Next season begins for the academy U-15 and U-17 sides this month, we may begin to see fewer appearances by academy players and more players on loan from their parent MLS side, Real Salt Lake.

Although speculation that this will be the last season for the Monarchs, and most other MLS 2 sides, in the USL Championship, is widespread, 2022 season tickets for the Monarchs are now on sale and it appears that the name may persist if they move to the new MLS Reserve league which is starting next season. As long as new ownership remains undecided, it makes sense that the MLS would be reluctant to pay fees to USL while at the same time starting up the new 3rd division professional league.

The game on Wednesday will kick at 7 PM MDT and stream on ESPN+.

On Saturday, September 13th, the Monarchs will make one of only two home appearances in Herriman during September against San Antonio FC. A free vaccination clinic with no appointment necessary will offered along with a free ticket to the match with a vaccination.

Real Monarchs current roster as of September 7th, 2021

Goalkeepers (1): Gavin Beavers, Jimmy Slayton

Defenders (5): Kyle Adams, James Moberg, Jaziel Orozco, Kevin Saucedo, Timi Sobowale

Midfielders (5): Ibrahim Bancé, Julio Benitez, Sam Brown, Brayan Gomez, Josimar Quintero,

Forwards (4): Aris Briggs, Malik Johnson, Max Mata, Charlie Wehan