SANDY, Utah (Friday, May 19, 2017) – Real Monarchs SLC (7-1-0, 21 points, 2nd West) continue their 2017 USL season Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium with a 7:00 p.m. MT kickoff, seeking to extend the club’s active win streak to five games. The Monarchs are a perfect 4-0-0 at home going into this Saturday’s match against Colorado Springs, the only club to have defeated the Monarchs thus far in 2017.
Head Coach Mark Briggs’ team has scored multiple goals in each of its seven victories – making the club the second-highest scoring team in the USL, with 20 through eight games – and has not been shut out this season, with the club’s only loss coming in its lone single-goal performance in mid-April at Colorado Springs. The 21-point total for the Monarchs through 8 games more than doubles its total points at same juncture in either its 2015 inaugural season or 2016.
Tickets are still available at the venue’s Sandy box office or by clicking www.RSL.com/Monarchs. RSL DF Tony Beltran is expected to appear for the Monarchs as part of his injury rehabilitation stint, while leading scorers Sebastian Velasquez and Chandler Hoffman (four goals each) lead a group that boasts five players with multiple goals, including 11 total goalscorers through eight games. On the other side, a defense led by GK Connor Sparrow and three defenders that have played every minute this season (DF James Moberg, Max Lachowecki as well as Captain Nick Besler) owns an active 224-minute shutout streak going into Saturday’s Switchbacks contest.
How to Follow Real Monarchs v. Colorado Springs – Sat., May 20, 2017
- Coverage Begins: 7:00 p.m. MT
- Webstream: Watch here! – Landon Southwick, Carla Haslam, Taran Meyer on the call
- English Radio: n/a
- Spanish Radio: n/a
- Online: The @RealMonarchs Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Saturday’s Monarchs v. Colorado Springs game Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Monarchs and Colorado is available by clicking HERE. If you have any problems obtaining the document, would prefer to receive it as an attachment, or are seeking more information on the match, please contact Trey Fitz-Gerald in the RSL Communications Department via email at tfitz@rsl.com
Last Saturday, the Monarchs earned their fourth consecutive victory with a 2-0 win against Sacramento Republic FC at Rio Tinto Stadium. Goals from FW Daniel Haber (his first for RMSLC, and the 8th of his USL career) and Velasquez enabled Sparrow and the Monarchs defense to secure a second straight clean sheet, pulling the Utah side to within two points of overall USL leader San Antonio (7-0-2, 23 points, 1st West).
Although opportunities were few and far between in the first half, the Monarchs broke through in the 39th minute. Haber smashed home MF Andrew Brody’s rebound into the roof of the net for his first goal of the season, giving the Monarchs 11 different goalscorers in 2017. On what proved to be the game-winner, Lachowecki set up Brody on the far post, and even though Republic GK Evan Newton denied the first chance, Haber was on the doorstep to ensure the finish.
The home side sealed the match off early in the second half. Quick in transition, the Monarchs turned a header out of their own penalty area into a goal. Velasquez beat Sacramento DF Jeremy Hall in a foot race to the penalty area, and the dynamic playmaker finished calmly into the far post side-netting for his fourth tally of the year and his second in as many games.
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, Real Salt Lake's regional 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 campus 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 consistent with 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.
