SANDY, Utah (Wednesday, March 8, 2017) – Real Monarchs’ 2017 preseason kicks off its Southern California slate today at 8:00 p.m. MT at Ventura County Fusion, with Head Coach Mike Petke’s USL side playing the first of three scrimmages in the next week. Today’s game can be followed LIVE on the @RealMonarchs twitter feed.
Real Monarchs SLC have added four players to its 2017 USL roster recently, as Petke readies his club for its third season in the USL. GK Andrew Putna – drafted by RSL in the most recent MLS SuperDraft out of the University of Illinois at Chicago – has signed with the Monarchs, as have returning American expatriate DF Kyle Curinga, former Univ. of Denver MF Karsten Hanlin and Utah Valley University standout FW Skyler Milne (pending league and federation approval and receipt of ITCs), bring the club’s USL roster to 18 players.
REAL MONARCHS 2017 PRESEASON SCHEDULE
Preseason Segment #1 – Sandy/Provo, UT
Saturday, Feb. 25 – Monarchs 3 : 0 BYU – (Milne, Minter, Brody)
Friday, March 3 – Monarchs 2 : 0 BYU – (Besler, Brody)
Preseason Segment #3 – Southern California
Wednesday, March 8 – Monarchs @ Ventura County Fusion – 8 p.m. MT
Saturday, March 11 – Monarchs @ LA Galaxy II – 3 p.m. MT
Wednesday, March 15 – Monarchs @ Orange County SC – 1 p.m MT
Preseason Segment #3 – Sandy, UT
Monday, March 20 – Friday, March 24 – Training at AFF daily 1:00 p.m.* (subject to change)
Sat., March 25 – Monarchs @ Portland Timbers 2 – 8:30 p.m. MT – 2017 USL Opening Weekend
Sat., April 1 – Monarchs v. Phoenix Rising FC – 4:00 p.m. MT @ Rio Tinto Stadium
Milne, 23, boasts Utah soccer roots that run deep, from his birthplace in Logan, to his club soccer career with Sparta United and his time at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, parlaying all of that into an impressive career with Utah Valley University. With the Wolverines, Milne became the school’s all-time career scoring leader (20g / 7a), recorded the first-ever hat trick for the state of Utah’s lone NCAA Division I program and was recognized as a two-time All-WAC academic selection.
Curinga, 23, has spent three seasons in Finland playing professionally (most recently with FF Jaro), amassing 71 games, five goals scored and nearly 5700 minutes following a college career that saw the Clearwater, Fla., native begin his NCAA career at Florida Atlantic University.
Hanlin, 23, earned first-team Summit League honors for the University of Denver Pioneers last year – where he was a teammate with current RSL right back Reagan Dunk – after making 78 appearances (third-most in Denver’s Division I history) with 71 starts in his career, seeing 5,540 minutes of action. Hanlin finished with 43 career points (seventh) on 14 goals (seventh) and 15 assists (sixth), including seven game-winning goals (third) in his final two years with the Crimson and Gold.
One of Hanlin’s game-winners came last Sept. 4 against UI-Chicago, where his new Real Monarchs teammate Andrew Putna was in goal. Putna, 22, was a two-time Horizon League Goalkeeper of the Year and All-League First Team honoree, in college. Putna made a name for himself in his four seasons at UIC while helping the Flames to two regular season conference championships (2013, 2015) and one Horizon League Tournament title (2016) to span a career record of 41-24-8 with 30 shutouts.
Putna tied the UIC record for most wins in a season as a freshman with 16 and additionally secured the fourth-best GAA in 2013 with a 0.79 mark. His 10 shutouts that year tied for second, while he tallied seven clean sheets in both 2015 and 2016 to rank fifth. In his career, he produced a 1.05 GAA, good for third, as his 214 saves rank fifth and 30 shutouts place second. An impeccable goalkeeper, Putna also contributed on offense, registering his first collegiate point as a sophomore after assisting on the game-winning goal against DePaul. He followed that up with four helpers his junior year, when he was one of 17 keepers in the nation to have an assist and was the only one in the group to have an astounding four.
Petke’s current 2017 roster of 18 players includes a group of eight players along with several members of the USL club’s technical staff – including Petke and Assistants Mark Briggs and Matt Glaeser – who spent the Arizona portion of preseason with RSL. The Monarchs preseason now includes new assistant coach Jamison Olave, the former MLS Best XI member and Defender of the Year w/ RSL and New York Red Bulls, also an RSL analyst on the club’s Spanish-language radio broadcasts on 102.3 FM.
The Monarchs 2017 USL schedule was recently released; please visit www.RSL.com/Monarchs for dates, times, opponents and ticket information for the club’s third USL campaign, which kicks off at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, April 1, at 4:00 p.m. MT against regional rival Phoenix Rising FC.
Season Tickets for both Real Salt Lake and Real Monarchs' 2017 campaigns are now on sale; please visit www.RSL.com/tickets/royalty or call 844.Real.Tix for more information, including “Crown Club” discounts for those who pledge loyalty to both Claret-and-Cobalt professional sides. The Rio Tinto Stadium box office is open Mon.-Fri., 10a-6p; more information can be found online at www.RSL.com/Tickets. Current or interested RSL Royalty Season Ticket Members can purchase extra tickets at preferred pricing or gain assistance via the Fan Relations Hotline at 801-727-2702.
Coming in late Summer, 2017, the Real Monarchs / RSL training center opens in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium. The $60 million facility will serve as the daily training home beginning in 2018 for both of the club's professional teams – RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) – while centralizing the club's U-18, U-16 and future U-14 development academy youth selections. The Herriman facility will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school opening this Fall, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls.
In mid-November in North Logan, Utah, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen broke ground on the first of a half-dozen regional training centers across Utah and Arizona to be built in the next 2-3 years. Each $5 million RTC houses a classroom, as well as an indoor and outdoor field, dedicated to fulfilling a curriculum dedicated to the club's vision and mission for youth soccer training and education, and the continued development of both recreational and competitive pre-Academy (ages 7-12) initiatives across Utah and Arizona.
