Utah Royals succumbed to another away defeat, its sixth defeat altogether of the season, and a seventh straight game without a win, in the club’s maiden NWSL campaign in a 3 - 1 loss on the road against Leilanni Nesbeth and her Chicago Red Stars at SeatGeek Stadium.
A well worked Chicago attacking sequence found striker, Mallory Swanson with time and space down the left flank to deliver an inch perfect cross which was met by an unmarked Jenna Bike in the Royals penalty area who equally had time and space to cushion a header past Mandy Haught for a Chicago lead in the 23rd minute.
Chicago were awarded a penalty in the 29th minute after Lauren Flynn was penalized for a late tackle on Bike in the penalty area. Up stepped Swanson who sent Haught the wrong way with a low and hard finish into the bottom left corner to double Chicago’s lead.
In the 81st minute, a long ball from Del Fava found Michele Vasconcelos free on the left flank allowing her to play a simple pass to Cameron Tucker who in turn cut inside and curled in a magnificent strike from 25 yards out beyond the reach of Chicago goalkeeper and into the top right corner to cut the deficit in half.
But in stoppage time, capitalizing on a turnover in midfield and on a counter attack, Jameese Joseph played a precise through ball to find Hocking who sprinted down towards the Royals goal side by side with three opposing defenders before knocking the ball past an onrushing Haught and finally sliding it into an empty net.
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