King went down on the pitch in the 74th minute, receiving over 10 minutes of medical treatment, before being transferred to a hospital by EMS
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Angel City defeat Utah Royals 2-0Defender Savy King stretchered off pitch to local hospitalTeam labeled injury "medical event"Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Angel City defender Savy King suffered a "medical event" on the field during the NWSL side's match during the Utah Royals Friday evening. The 20-year-old defender went down in the 74th minute, and received medical treatment for about 10 minutes before she was taken off the field on a cart.
Angel City issued a statement that said King "was transported by EMS to the hospital following a medical event on the field. She is responsive and undergoing further evaluation. We thank everyone for their concern and support."
After the final whistle, both teams gathered in a circle at the center of the pitch in prayer for King.
AdvertisementImagnTHE BIGGER PICTURE
King was the second overall pick in the 2024 NWSL draft by expansion side Bay FC, where she played 18 games for the club. In February, she was traded to Angel City, and started all eight games this season.
Eleri Earnshaw, Angel City’s senior assistant coach, who led the team due to the suspension of interim head coach Sam Laity, spoke postgame on the scary situation.
“It was one of the Utah players who suggested it, that we get together. Some people prayed, some people shared their energy. Just to show unity in that moment in support of Savy, without knowing the update at that time.
“It was obviously a scary situation to be in and, at that point, it was much bigger than football. Really grateful to the Utah player that did that, I can’t remember off the top of my head who it was, but really grateful for it.”
Earnshaw also praised defender Megan Reid, who had previously trained as an Emergency Medical Technician.
“I just gave a shoutout in our locker room to Meg Reid, [who] as you know, is a trained paramedic,” Earnshaw said. “While Christen [Press] and her teammates were instrumental in getting the group together and making contact and just being with one another, Meg saw out of the corner of her eye that they were starting to move Savy onto a stretcher and reiterated to the group that that was a really good sign.
“She just stepped into paramedic mode and helped calm the group, which was massive. It was still scary, you still don’t know how the team’s going to respond after that. My ask was that we were together, we stayed communicative throughout the rest of the game, keep each other concentrated and that we give our energy to Savy.”
After roughly 10 minutes of stoppage, the game resumed, playing through regulation with 12 minutes of stoppage time. Christen Press opened the scoring for Angel City in the 66th minute, and Alyssa Thompson score again in the seventh minute of stoppage.
WHAT UTAH SAID
Royals manager Jimmy Coenraets suggested that the match should not have continued after King's "medical event."
“In those moments, I’m not sure if we should have continued the game,” Coenrates told reporters after the match.
“You’re emotionally — not only them but also our players were just scared. That’s not the right situation to be in but in the end, we played on. That’s the decision other people have taken, which is fine. It was a really tough moment. “It’s the same after the game. Like, what do you want to focus on after the game? Yes, you have the result of the game but you want to make sure people feel safe, healthy and good and I think that was the focus after the game for us.”
WHAT NEXT?
Angel City return to the pitch next weekend against Bay FC. The club will continue to update the public on King's status when news becomes available.