Real Monarchs SLC 2018 Season Preview
Real Monarchs SLC enter its 4th campaign in the United Soccer League with high expectations after playing to a record year in 2017. The Utah side earned the USL Regular-Season Championship Shield en route to its first ever playoff appearance as Head Coach Mark Briggs secured his own silverware at season’s end. The club will open the doors of its new home – Zions Bank Stadium – for the first time in late-April while it returns nine players from its historic 2017 roster.
Reigning USL Coach of the Year Mark Briggs enters his first full season in charge of the Monarchs after leading the team to a historic year after Mike Petke’s promotion to Real Salt Lake just one match into the USL season. Under Briggs’ guidance, the team came within two points of the all-time points record set by New York Red Bulls II in 2016 (69), and came within two wins of the all-time wins record (22). On November 20, 2017, Mark Briggs was named the 2017 USL Coach of the Year for his leadership over the course of the season.
Briggs returns a Real Monarchs coaching staff which includes former
Real Salt Lake
and New York Red Bulls defender
Jamison Olave
, who retired as a player following the 2016 MLS season and has spent the last year earning his coaching accreditations while assisting with the Monarchs. Goalkeeper Coach
Matt Glaeser
returns for his second season with the USL side, arriving in December 2016, along with Briggs after serving as an assistant at Wilmington. Briggs also sees the transition of former Monarchs midfielder
Danny Cruz
to an assistant coaching role with the club. Prior to signing with the Monarchs in 2017, Cruz arrived at the Utah club from the San Francisco Deltas of the NASL in August 2017, Cruz appeared in nine matches for the Monarchs in 2017, playing 617 minutes while making six starts. As a professional Cruz logged 137 career Major League Soccer appearances, 99 of them in a starting role.
Real Monarchs returns an 9-player core amongst the 30-man roster for its 2018 campaign, while bolstering its roster in areas field-wide entering the club’s first full year under Briggs and staff. USL All-League First Team selection, USL MVP Finalist and Golden Boot runner-up from 2017, FW
Chandler Hoffman
led the Monarchs in scoring in 2017, posting 17 total goals while registering 7 assists through the regular-season and playoffs for his best year as a professional. A former MLS Cup winner with the LA Galaxy, Hoffman returns for his second year in a Monarchs uniform looking to right the ship from a season ago and lead the Monarchs to a USL Cup title.
Another USL All-League First Team selection, MF Sebastian Velasquez returns for his second year with the Monarchs after his best performance as a professional saw him score nine goals and register six assists, good for second place in scoring within the potent attacking core for the Monarchs.
Joining Hoffman and Velasquez in 2018 is USL veteran midfielder
Charlie Adams
as he enters his third year in a Monarchs uniform and his fourth in the USL. Adams led the Utah side in assists in 2017, registering eight assists while adding a single goal to his name.
In goal GK Andrew Putna returns for his sophomore season in the USL after featuring in four matches for the Monarchs last season, posting two shutouts while registering two penalty kick saves in two-consecutive matches against Sacramento Republic FC and Reno 1868 FC on Sept. 27 and Sept. 30 respectively.
MFs
Karsten Hanlin
and
Andrew Brody
return for their second and third years with the Monarchs in midfield while DFs
Michael Gallagher
and
James Moberg
return to the staunch back line. At FW,
Juan Ignacio Mare
returns for his first full season with the Monarchs after joining the club in August 2017. In 2017, Mare featured in eight matches for the Monarchs scoring twice and registering one assist in 395 minutes played.
New arrivals to the Monarchs side in 2018 are DFs David Diosa, Rhys Williams, Kalen Ryden and Konrad Plewa to strengthen the backline that only gave up 32 goals in 2017, forming one of the stingiest defenses in the USL.
Supplementing the midfield alongside Adams and Velasquez is former Charleston Battery midfield duo
Maikel Chang
and
Justin Portillo
who will look to make the midfield an even more potent attacking force than in 2017 after joining the club in the offseason. The duo accounted for eight goals and 16 assists for the Battery last season to see Portillo land on the USL All-League Second Team in his third year with Charleston. Joining in midfield is three-year USL veteran
Josh Heard
who comes to the Monarchs from Bethlehem Steel FC and
Mastanabal “Masta” Kacher
who in 2017, was the only player in the USL who started and played in all 32 regular-season matches. In goal, the Monarchs welcome University of Memphis product
Jake Leeker
to provide depth to one of the most impressive goalkeeping contingents in the United Soccer League.
Zions Bank Stadium
In 2018, Real Monarchs will move away from the home of Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC at Rio Tinto Stadium and christen the new, 5,000 seat Zions Bank Stadium on the campus of the $78 million Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman, Utah.
The state-of-the-art venue will boast a full-service press box and broadcasting booth as well as concessions on either side of the stadium. The Monarchs will host 17 regular-season matches at Zions Bank Stadium in the first year at the league’s newest venue starting with an April 30 match against Las Vegas Lights FC for the first ever “Saints-and-Sinners/I-15” Rivalry.
2018 Schedule
The Monarchs are set to compete in the biggest season in USL history with each team playing 17 matches home and away for a 34-match regular-season slate. The western conference will welcome Saint Louis FC to the conference as well as league newcomers Fresno FC and Las Vegas Lights FC to the fold. Prior to the match against Lights FC, the Monarchs will host its home opener at Rio Tinto Stadium against Portland Timbers 2 on March 31 before a three-game road stint that sees the club visit Phoenix Rising FC, Seattle Sounders 2 and the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The match against the Rowdies on April 21 will be the only match against an Eastern Conference opponent in 2018, as the Claret-and-Cobalt USL side face each of their 16 Western opponents once home and once away, with an extra Zions Bank Stadium match against Fresno balancing the Tampa Bay trip.
The 17-match Monarchs home slate features ZERO Sunday home matches and minimal conflicts with the Real Salt Lake pyramid’s MLS and NWSL teams, who play in nearby Sandy. The Utah club will kick off its season on Saturday March 24 when it visits Tulsa Roughnecks FC. Kick off for the match is set for 6:00 p.m. MT. Season tickets for the club's 4th season in the USL can be purchased at RealMonarchs.com.
