Utah did not play well on Saturday, and that was evident in the scoreline. But it turned out that wasn’t the result that mattered.
The Reign, which Utah was supposed to play last Wednesday before the game was postponed, faced the lowly Sky Blue FC about 45 minutes after the Royals-Courage game started. So by the time Utah lost, there was still a half or so to play between the Reign and Sky Blue.
At that time, the Reign had overtaken Utah in the live standings because the game was a scoreless tie. That is until Sky Blue scored and hung on to win the game.