Only 11 players can be on the field at any given time in a soccer game. Remove the goalkeeper, and that leaves just 10 field positions for a roster of 22 to 26 players. The internal competition each professional faces within a club is what many believe makes a team stronger. As the saying goes, “Iron sharpens iron.”
For the Utah Royals, the roster features several experienced midfielders who battle each training session to prove they deserve a spot in the starting lineup. Among them is veteran and world cup winner Claudia Zornoza, who has cemented her place in the starting XI since arriving last season. With her experience, Zornoza has the ability to lead the team and shift the tempo of a match at any moment. Head coach Jimmy Coenraets views her as a key figure, which is reflected in her consistency—appearing in 16 of 18 games this season and starting every one of them.
As the team primarily employs a 4-2-3-1 formation—used in 14 of 18 matches—only one additional spot is available in the midfield. After the summer break, the coaching staff has leaned heavily on rookie Aria Nagai to fill the role of the second pivot alongside Zornoza, with the pair starting the last four games together. Since that adjustment, the Royals have drawn three of its last four games, recording three shutouts, evidence of the success the team has enjoyed in recent weeks as the structure has provided greater defensive stability and allowed the midfield to control games more effectively.
This new tandem has made a strong start together, though their on-field experience as a pair remains limited with the partnership still in its early stages. Their careers are at opposite points—one a rookie, the other a well-established veteran—but both share a mutual respect, admiring each other’s work ethic day in and day out.
We spoke with Claudia and Aria to hear their thoughts on their midfield connection, and they provided a perfect example of how the NWSL can unite two players from completely different backgrounds toward a common goal.
From World Cup Winner to Mentor
Claudia Zornoza is one of the most experienced players on the Royals. She’s played for many of the top clubs in the world including Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Valencia, and more. In total, she’s played for eight clubs and even represented her national team on multiple occasions including in 2023 when Spain won the Women’s World Cup. Through these experiences, she’s established on-field connections with dozens of players throughout her career. Her relationship with Nagai is just another on a long list of footballers she’s shared the pitch with but she speaks highly of her Utah teammate.
“It’s very easy to play with Aria, we have a very good relationship both on and off the field. It’s simple to play with another midfielder you can talk to—many times she helps me in defensive situations. She positions herself very well without the ball. We’ve made a good tandem and I think that has helped the team to have more calmness and more possession.”
Nagai entered her first NWSL season this year with the Royals, and it’s been a significant learning curve. From making the roster as a walk-on at the start of the year to earning her first start this summer, she has grown tremendously as a player, so much so that she even reminds Zornoza of herself in her early days when asked about the rookie’s development.
“She’s very eager to learn. She has a great ability to listen, and I think when you’re young it’s very important to listen to others and also learn from them. Even I learn from her every day as well. I think she has that calmness and patience that is hard to find in young players nowadays.”
She continued, “On the field she transforms, and in that she reminds me of myself when I was young. She is much more aggressive. When she doesn’t have the ball, she may seem calm, but she really goes for it and fights a lot, especially defensively.”
Her hard work up to this point is undeniable and makes her journey to the pros even more unique. It is something that has not gone unnoticed within the club, especially by her Spanish teammate.
She points this out as a key characteristic that has allowed her to reach this point in her young career: “The work in silence. (She) has come from college and learned how to work day by day regardless of whether she played more or fewer minutes. What’s important is that she has focused only on herself and on her own work. When the opportunity came, she was calm and ready to do things well, just as she had been doing in training.”
The dynamic between the two has been strong despite the possible language barrier because as Zornoza puts it, “both of us on the field are calm when it comes to communicating. Sometimes we do not even need to talk to each other. For me it is strange because many times we have no communication, yet things just happen naturally.”
Learning from the Best and Claiming Her Place
From Aria’s perspective, getting the chance to play with such a decorated professional like Claudia Zornoza is an opportunity that she doesn’t want to take for granted. The impact the 34-year-old has had on her in less than a year of having played with each other is significant. The rookie knows that she must take advantage of every opportunity to learn from her so that she can grow as a player.
“When I was on trial, I was really nervous and didn’t know what the pro environment was like. She really helped me integrate into the team and has always been very encouraging, even when things were pretty tough at the beginning of the season. I always felt like she really believed in me and trusted me when we played together, and that helped keep me motivated and working hard. She has so much experience both at the pro level and the international level, and I would like one day to be able to play at that level. She has just been a really big help in my transition from college to the pros.”
When speaking about her Royals teammate, Nagai highlights the Spaniard’s experience as something she wants to absorb every day in training. Having Zornoza as a mentor allows her to learn aspects of the game that few people in the world could offer.
“I try to mimic her positioning and her ability on the ball, just to stay calm and help us connect the lines. I try to talk at every chance we get because I want to be able to help her out, since I feel like she has helped me a lot, so I just want to return the favor. I feel like having her there is a very calming presence and helps me not to be super nervous and to grow into the game a little more, knowing that she has my back.”
When playing alongside Claudia, many aspects of her game stand out, but Aria appreciates two specific details that elevate her play to the level of the elite in the sport.
“Her vision is incredible. Her ability to stay calm under pressure and then ping these balls out wide or play through balls to get us out of pressure is definitely something that is really impressive, and I want to incorporate it into my game as well. Her experience is very evident on the field, just knowing what certain situations need or what the team needs at the moment. She is so technical, has great vision, and the ability to just keep the ball is top class.”
Aria’s path to the league was anything but conventional. She joined the team as a non-roster invitee during this year’s preseason and left a lasting impression on head coach Jimmy Coenraets and his coaching staff which earned her a salary cap exempt contract. Through her hard work and dedication, it was announced on July 29 of this year that her contract was extended until the end of the current 2025 season.
“When I think about the fact that I wasn’t really planning on even playing past my senior year of college and now I’m in this league and playing, it is really crazy to think about and I’m grateful for this opportunity. Every day is a new opportunity to try to keep getting better. I feel like it has been a very unique journey. It reminds me that I have to keep grinding and working hard because there are some days when it doesn’t go well or some when I wasn’t making rosters, but I was believing in myself. My teammates also really believed in me, which was huge, so I just keep working hard and grinding at it and good things will come. There’s a little bit of a luck component as well, but it just reminds me that nothing is for granted and as long as I’m working hard and just doing what I can each and every day—every practice, every drill, every game—even if it doesn’t work out for me, maybe I’m helping my teammates get better, or helping the team get better.”
