Jimmy Coenraets Guides Utah Royals to 7-Match Unbeaten Run
utah royals have not lost since March 22 and are riding a seven-match unbeaten streak that has them in position to chase something the club has never done before: a playoff berth. After two rough seasons in the current era, the run has turned a team that finished 11th in 2024 and 12th out of 14 teams into a legitimate late-season factor.
Coenraets Changes Utah
Jimmy Coenraets said the shift started with the people in the room. “We have a team that actually wants to work hard,” he said. “We don’t have divas or big stars.”
He added that the roster has players who “individually, want to contribute to the bigger team,” and said the group had been “hungry for structure, for clarity, for simplicity.” The coaching staff also did away with the 27-point game plan ahead of the 2026 campaign, then put a heavier emphasis on standards.
McGlynn's Process
Mandy McGlynn described the side as process-oriented. “We’re not expecting an outcome of a win, expecting a shutout,” she said. “We’re just going there and we know how to execute the game plan and do that to our full ability.”
That approach has shown up in results over the last stretch. Utah won five of its next seven matches after consecutive losses to the Current and the San Diego Wave, then stacked up seven points in eight days with wins over Angel City FC and the Houston Dash and a draw with Bay on Sunday.
Tanaka And Del Fava
Personnel helped sharpen the attack and the tone around it. Mina Tanaka, last season’s leading scorer, missed the team’s first two games while winning a continental title with Japan, then marked her NWSL debut with a late equalizer against the Washington Spirit.
Coenraets also pointed to Kate Del Fava as one of the players driving the professional culture in the squad. With Utah sitting on 17 points and three matches left before the month-long NWSL summer break, it is still eight points shy of the total it earned in each of its previous seasons — but now it is being discussed as a possible first-time playoff team, including the original franchise that operated in 2018 and 2019.
