With its destiny back in its hands, Utah Royals FC now faces ‘championship game’ vs. Seattle

After the Utah Royals FC lost to the North Carolina Courage on Saturday, coach Laura Harvey, her staff and couple of players stayed in the locker room watching the Seattle Reign and Sky Blue FC finish their game. The Royals had just dropped under the playoff line and, at the time, the Reign had taken over the fourth and final spot postseason berth.

Sky Blue eventually secured the 1-0 victory, dropping the Reign back to fifth and vaulting Utah to fourth — the same positions both teams occupied heading into Saturday’s games. The Royals were back above the line, and Harvey was happy.

“We sent Carli Lloyd a present,” Harvey said, referring to the Sky Blue forward who provided the game-winner.

No gift was actually sent, of course. But Harvey’s joke spoke to a feeling around the team that its destiny was back in its own hands. Moments after the loss to the Courage, that feeling wasn’t there. The Royals felt having a say in their own destiny “might have been taken away,” Harvey said.

That changed when Seattle lost. But the impact of Wednesday’s game — a make-up of last week’s that was postponed — didn’t. If anything, it could mean that much more.

“For me, this is the championship game,” Harvey said. “I think that has to be our mentality because I think if we lose it, I think it mentally and physically would hurt too much to maybe recover from.”

The Royals and Reign have split the first two games of their three-game season series. Utah lost at home in Samantha Johnson’s final game, then beat Seattle on the road one and a half months later.

Several of the the Royals players were upset about the postponement of last week’s game in Tacoma. But with that situation came a silver lining: Christen Press and Veronica Boquete got additional rest for their nagging injuries. Both felt no ill effects after the North Carolina game, Harvey said, adding that she doesn’t anticipate managing their minutes Wednesday.

But while Utah already spend a few days last week preparing for the Reign, it may change some things the second time around.

“I think very much so there is the potential that we change our game plan and we adjust according to now how we played this last week and now how we come off our last game against North Carolina,” forward Amy Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez agreed with Harvey that Wednesday against Seattle is a “no-lose” game, but she pushed back on the idea that if the Royals somehow lost, it would be insurmountable.

“In my nature, I’ve always gone down fighting, so no matter what the situation, we are going to bust our butts trying to earn that space in the playoffs,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t think it’s going to come down to one game. But is this game that’s a stepping stone for us to make it easier on ourselves and to get ourselves stamped into the playoffs? Yes, very much so.”

Utah has three games left in the regular season, the first two of which are on the road in a four-day span. But it could be Wednesday against Seattle that defines Utah’s season.

The Royals are here for it.

“The NWSL gods want this game to be the ultimate game,” Harvey said. “Bring it on."