[**Amy Rodriguez**](https://www.nwslsoccer.com/players/view/2m8rcswd742t7d1j8gml38ogl) will be lined up at forward for Utah Royals FC this season, the club announced Tuesday.The forward will be making her NWSL return after missing nearly all of the 2017 season with an ACL tear that she suffered in FC Kansas City’s season opener. Rodriguez scored in the 48th minute of her season debut last year, but tore the ACL in her left knee minutes later. The game had been her return to the NWSL after missing all of the 2016 season due to the birth of her son. “I couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming NWSL season,” Rodriguez said in a Utah news release. “I can’t wait to put on the Utah Royals FC jersey and get back on the soccer field again.” Rodriguez was originally allocated to now Utah head coach Laura Harvey’s Seattle Reign FC side in 2013, but missed the inaugural NWSL season because of pregnancy. She was then traded in the offseason to FC Kansas City, where she vexed the Reign in two straight championships. In 2014, she scored both goals in FCKC’s 2-1 win over the Reign. Then in 2015, Rodriguez was named the NWSL Championship MVP after scoring the 78th minute game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory. [Youtube oembed has failed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJK2hrCZ2HY] Harvey remembers those moments well. “Amy has proven her ability to score goals in every year that she has been fit and available in the NWSL. I’m so excited to finally have her on my team and not have to watch her play against me, as she has always haunted my teams,” she said in a Utah statement released Tuesday. “We are excited to get Amy into Salt Lake and help finish off her rehabilitation so she can again show what a huge talent she is.”

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