Utah Royals FC made history Sunday night, putting five past the Portland Thorns in a 5-1 win at America First Field. That final scoreline set a new club record for goals in a single match. It also marked the Royals' 10th win of the season, a first since 2019.
Cece Delzer Drives Comeback After Early Sophia Wilson Goal
It was Portland who opened the scoring early. Sophia Wilson needed just 34 seconds to give Portland the lead, netting the quickest strike in the NWSL this season. But Utah answered through Cece Delzer, who equalized in the 35th minute off a feed from Kiana Palacios.
Then Delzer did it again.
Two minutes into the second half, Cloé Lacasse sent in a cross that Delzer converted to complete her first career NWSL brace. Lacasse's assist also broke the club's single-season record for goal contributions, previously held by former USWNT star Christen Press in 2019.
From there, Utah pulled away.
Second-Half Scoring Run Breaks Records in Utah Royals vs Portland Thorns Win
Brecken Mozingo found the net just minutes after entering as a substitute, and Palacios added a backheel flick in the 78th minute. Kate Del Fava headed home a Lacasse corner in the 88th to seal it.
Lacasse finished with three assists and 13 goal contributions on the season, marking two more club records. The win moves Utah to 3rd in the NWSL standings at 10-5-3.
No. 3 Utah hosts No. 1 Washington in tonight’s Royals vs Spirit matchup, as two surging teams square off atop the NWSL standings.
Utah arrives hot off Saturday’s 4-1 rout of No. 9 North Carolina. On Saturday, four players contributed to the club’s highest-ever scoreline, as star striker Cloé Lacasse tied Christen Press’s 2019 single-season Royals scoring record.
“What this group is — and [Lacasse is] a great example of it — is humble,” coach Jimmy Coenraets said. “We’ll enjoy this win, but we also know that the hustle will start tomorrow.”
Utah remains unbeaten against Washington through three straight meetings — including March’s Mina Tanaka-fueled 1-1 draw.
The Spirit has conceded just 12 goals this season after Sunday’s 1-0 win over No. 11 Denver, where US star Trinity Rodman connected with forward Sofia Cantore to net the game-winner from deep.
“Tactically, the team is improving and growing every week,” manager Adrián González said. “We are finding different ways to win games, and I think that’s really positive.”
Washington visits Utah tonight at 9 PM ET (NWSL+).
The Utah Royals are officially on top, as the team’s unexpected NWSL standings surge continued with Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Denver Summit. The victory extended a nine-match unbeaten streak.
Utah’s Mina Tanaka scored the game-winner from the penalty spot. The win launched the Royals over previous league-leader Portland, claiming No. 1 in the NWSL standings for the first time in team history.
“We’re putting in a shift,” said head coach Jimmy Coenraets. “You have to beat the 11 players when you’re defending. And you have to chase 11 players when you’re attacking as well.”
While the surging Royals benefit from a game in-hand, the race to the 2026 NWSL Shield only gets harder from here.
Utah faced just one team above the postseason cutoff line in its last nine games, while next weekend’s clash with No. 2 Portland serves as one last test before the league’s midseason break.
“After the game against Portland, whatever the result is, the first beer will be on me in the hotel,” Coenraets joked on Saturday.
Where to Watch Utah Royals vs Portland Thorns NWSL Match
The Utah Royals kick off against the Portland Thorns on Saturday at 4 PM ET, live on ION.
The Utah Royals made NWSL history Sunday, extending their unbeaten streak to a franchise-record seven matches.
A 0-0 draw against Bay FC at PayPal Park secured a vital on-the-road point for the team. That result also keeps Utah in the 2026 NWSL playoff hunt, while cementing its status as one of the league’s most dominant defense.
Utah Royals Sets 468-Minute Franchise Shutout Record
Utah’s historic run is fueled by a backline that hasn't conceded a goal since late March. During the stalemate in San Jose, the Royals surpassed the previous club record, reaching 468 consecutive minutes of shutout soccer.
Goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn anchored the defensive surge, securing five clean sheets during the team's current seven-game unbeaten stretch.
"We’re not expecting an outcome of a win, expecting a shutout," McGlynn told The Athletic. "We’re just going there and we know how to execute the game plan and do that to our full ability."
The team's "process-oriented" mentality was on full display in the 40th match minute, when midfielder Narumi Miura made a lung-busting sprint to block a goal-bound shot from Bay FC's Racheal Kundananji, preserving the deadlock.
Offensively, Japanese international Mina Tanaka continues to drive the Royals' creative engine.
Granted a free role by head coach Jimmy Coenraets, Tanaka nearly broke the tie in the 79th minute, launching a powerful strike that forced an elite save from the Bay FC keeper.
Utah Royals vs. Racing Louisville: Shut-out Streak Watch Continues
With 17 points through nine matches, Utah currently sits in 3rd place in the NWSL standings. The club has already earned 11 road points this season — matching their combined road totals from 2024 and 2025.
The Royals return home to America First Field on May 17th to host Racing Louisville, looking to push their shutout record past the 500-minute mark.
No. 5 Utah is on the rise, climbing the NWSL standings on a club record four-game winning streak after Saturday’s 1-0 win over floundering Angel City.
Canada international Cloé Lacasse’s first-half strike broke the deadlock, putting the Royals on the front foot before LA midfielder Maiara picked up a red card, leaving ACFC to play out the second half down one.
“As a coach, you can be very proud of if there is a plan, and you tell the plan, and the plan has some small adaptions, and the team just wants to do it,” said Utah manager Jimmy Coenraets.
“That’s the biggest growth we’ve had since last season — being adaptable.”
The loss marked No. 8 Angel City’s third straight defeat, showing cracks in the foundation after a strong start to the season.
“If we come out in the first half like we did in the second half, I think we win that game,” said Angel City defender Emily Sams.
“That’s something that we can definitely learn from and take forward, that we don’t have to wait until we’re down a player, down a goal, to come out with that kind of intensity.”
Where to Watch Utah Royals vs. Houston Dash in NWSL Action
The Utah Royals will hunt another result on Wednesday, hosting No. 7 Houston at 10 PM ET, live on Paramount+.
Washington finds itself in unfamiliar territory, as the Spirit enters Wednesday night's midweek NWSL clash against the Utah Royals still hunting a first win of the 2026 season.
After opening their 2026 campaign with a 1-0 home loss to the Portland Thorns, Washington battled back from a two goal deficit to draw Racing Louisville 2-2 last Friday.
"[We're] believing in what we are doing, the process," said Spirit manager Adrián González. "When we win, we don't get too crazy and when we lose, the same."
This time out, the Spirit will benefit from a mostly healthy lineup, with star forward Trinity Rodman cleared after last week's concussion scare and midfielder Andi Sullivan back from maternity leave.
Winless Utah, whose 2026 season includes a pair of 2-1 losses to the Kansas City Current and San Diego Wave, is less lucky: Starting goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn is out with a hand injury and defender Tatumn Milazzo will be serving a red card suspension on Wednesday night.
"The expectation should be with everyone coming in that they can pick up their role," said Royals head coach Jimmy Coenraets.
How to watch the Washington Spirit vs. Utah Royals on Wednesday
Washington will host Utah at 7 PM ET on Wednesday, with live coverage of the match streaming on Victory+.
Women's soccer clubs are shelling it out, as the 2025 Global Transfer Report from FIFA showed that women's pro team spending reached record highs last year.
Clubs spent a total of $28.6 million on a total of 2,440 international women's soccer transfers, marking a 6.3% year-over-year increase in the number of athletes, but a massive 83.6% bump in spending over 2024 — even without accounting for intra-league deals.
England led the pack on the 2025 FIFA Global Transfer Report, dropping $11 million in fees while taking in $2.1 million in sales, followed by the NWSL's $7.9 million spent.
Notably, US players were in the highest demand at 240 transfers — more than double the 108 British athletes comprising the nationality coming in second.
Reigning WSL champions Chelsea FC sit atop the spending list, racking up high-profile signings like USWNT stars Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson.
US billionaire Michele Kang's London City Lionesses trail the Blues at No. 2 in just their first WSL season following last spring's promotion, with the also-Kang-owned French side OL Lyonnes clocking in at No. 3 on the transfer fee list.
Six NWSL teams made the Top 10, led by the Orlando Pride at No. 4, Utah Royals at No. 5, and Washington Spirit at No. 6 — with the Spirit also falling into Kang's portfolio.
The Kansas City Current delivered some concerning news this week, with the NWSL club revealing that star striker Temwa Chawinga remains sidelined with an hip adductor injury while the league's 2026 preseason gets underway.
The team currently lists the reigning back-to-back NWSL MVP under a season-ending injury (SEI) designation, a category earned after Chawinga picked up the injury in mid-October, leaving the Kansas City attacker benched for the Current's quarterfinal loss to eventual 2025 NWSL champions Gotham FC.
"It's hard because of the nature of the injury," incoming Kansas City head coach Chris Armas told The Athletic last week. "With Temwa, we've got to be very careful, but she's looking great and doing lots of good work on the return to play."
Also on the Current's SEI list is standout winger Michelle Cooper, with the 23-year-old rising USWNT star suffering a foot injury in Kansas City's final regular-season match of 2025.
"It was a little bit of a tough ending here after, honestly, an amazing historic season," said Armas. "Hopefully they are back as soon as possible, but it's still unclear."
Both Chawinga and Cooper will have some time to recover before Kansas City kicks off their 2026 NWSL regular season against the Utah Royals on March 14th — with teams allowed to lift a player's SEI status any time once the season begins.
The 2025 Women's World Cup journey of the U-17 USWNT came to an end on Tuesday, when the US fell to the Netherlands in the tournament's Round of 16 after a 1-1 draw led to a tense penalty shootout.
FC Twente forward Liv Pennock gave the Dutch a one-goal lead in the third minute before a bullet from Chicago Stars attacker Micayla Johnson pulled the USWNT level in the game's second half, but the US couldn't finish the job, losing 7-6 in penalties.
The USWNT has never won a U-17 Women's World Cup, finishing as runners-up in the tournament's inaugural 2008 competition before taking third in the 2024 edition.
With three pros on the roster — Johnson, Gotham FC striker Mak Whitham, and Utah Royals forward KK Ream — as well as one player, defender Sydney Schmidt, on an amateur contract with USL Super League side Sporting JAX, the U-17 USWNT did manage to put together their most impressive group-stage performance yet, taking all nine points from their three opening matches for the first time in team history.
Even more, the team did so in dominant fashion, taking down Ecuador 3-0 and China 5-2 before blasting Norway 5-0 to advance to the knockouts.
The young USWNT will have another shot at a world championship next year, when the now-annual U-17 World Cup returns for its second straight edition in Morocco.
Two-time World Cup champion Christen Press is hanging up her boots, as the Angel City and USWNT star announced her retirement on Wednesday, marking the end of the 2025 NWSL season as the finish line of an almost two-decade-long pro and amateur career.
The 36-year-old forward ranks ninth on the USWNT's all-time scoring list with 64 goals across her 155 international appearances, earning World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019 plus Olympic bronze at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
However, a 2022 ACL tear saw Press sidelined, with the Stanford alum undergoing four surgeries over two years as she battled back onto the pitch, making her return to ACFC in 2024.
Press was the LA expansion side's first official signing in 2021, going on to make 37 appearances for her hometown NWSL team after stints with the Chicago Red Stars, Utah Royals, and the WSL's Manchester United, among other teams.
Her impact also extended beyond the pitch, as Press found success alongside her wife, recently retired fellow USWNT star Tobin Heath, in the lifestyle brand RE—INC and its "The RE—CAP Show" podcast.
"I'm retiring from professional soccer and I've decided that this is my last season and my last few games," Press told Good Morning America on Wednesday morning. "I thought I would wait until I didn't want to play anymore, but I realized…that time is never going to come."
"I feel a mix of everything," Press acknowledged about her impending retirement. "Yes, there's relief, there's joy, there's excitement, there's fear, there's so much grief. I have so much grief, a part of me, a piece of me, I'm losing her."