Kennley Bradley will become Kennley Bowthorpe on Nov. 13, when she marries Luke, but will return for her second year as the head coach of the Royals, trying to improve on a 2-16 record in her maiden voyage that wrapped up last week by missing the 5A playoffs.

“I went in with simple expectations. Of course, I’m not too happy with our record, but I can’t say it reflects the growth or performance of the girls,” Bradley said. “I came in with a good attitude and different insights, and the girls are starting to buy into what we are telling them.

“I’m hoping next season we’re able to walk away with a better result, but to say that I walked away proud of the girls is an understatement. They were so coachable; they were a great group of girls,” Bradley said.

There was a learning curve this year with a new coach and a team that featured 10 freshmen, 13 sophomores, and only one senior — one of the younger rosters in the 5A ranks, at least.

Photo supplied, Kennley Bradley

“You could tell we were young because of some of the lack of discipline and nerves, but I think towards the end of the season we could see them start to get comfortable,” Bradley said. “Having such a young team makes me as a coach excited for the future.”

With 31 players on this year’s team, Bradley would like to see it grow to 40 and maybe even field a freshman and sophomore team.

“The biggest thing is getting people to want to come and play for us at Roy — see how we are as coaches and the chemistry and environment we build on a team,” Bradley said. “People who want to play soccer, I never want to be the person to ruin the sport for them. I want to be somebody who helps them fall more in love with it.”

Putting more wins on the board would be an important element to feed the fire and passion.

A quick glance at the stats shows some improvement from the 2-15 team in 2025.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Looking at Region 5 specifically, Roy gave up 12 fewer goals but was anemic on offense, netting only four times in 12 league games (still up from three last year).

“The best defense is offense. In order to prevent the other team from scoring, we have to keep the ball and force the other team to win it from us,” Bradley said. “We approached it in reverse order this year and focused on defense and finally found a 5-3-2 that was best. You could see the girls were confident; they grasped the defensive concepts and we switched to concentrating on offense.”

The Royals only scored one goal in their first 10 region games, then had three in the last two games as things started to click.

“That’s credit to be given to the girls, taking what we’ve told them and applying it into the game. It was cool to see it pay off and see the happiness on their faces when they started to score,” Bradley said. “You have a toolbox that we as coaches give you, but how you use them is up to you. I’m not a player on the field, so I don’t know what the girls see out there. I can only tell them what to do.”

Roy scored 10 goals in its 18 total games. Sophomore Ruby Turpin had five of them, the closest thing the Royals had to a star. But the young Royals struggled to get her the ball, and Bradley relocated her to defense late in the year to use her talents on that end.

“She’s not only a great player, but she is even a better person. She’s a big asset for us and even a bigger leader,” Bradley said. “I can play her in any position and she can thrive. At the end of the season, we moved her to center back and she was phenomenal.”

Turpin, Hanna Moyes and sole senior Summer Garton became the heart of the defense for the Royals.

Bradley graduated from Roy in 2021 after a four-year career, then played at Snow College before a four-year stint at Division I program Texas State.

She interviewed with former Roy athletic director Mike Puzey when the head coaching job opened up in March.

“I was coming into a program that’s not going to win a state championship right off the bat. It’s going to take time, a lot of love, attention and care,” Bradley said. “Soccer may not always be there, but we as a coaching staff will be.”

Bradley launched her tenure with a couple of open plays in April and May, then tryouts on July 28 and 29 on grass and turf. She and assistant coaches Ryan Miles and Kaytlin Bradley found themselves with a very young team with little experience.

“Many of them were transitioning from club teams, and now in high school we had 14-year-olds competing with close to 18-year-olds with a huge age gap,” Bradley said. “We needed to create a winning mindset with standards where we had fun but held the girls accountable.

“Given a year to train, I’m hoping the girls can see and understand how we want to play. So, when the sophomores are juniors and freshmen are sophomores, they know what to expect.”

Bradley said new Roy athletic director Monty Vorwaller is on board with her measured approach to turn the program around.

Roy has not won a Region 5 game since October 2023 and has not had a winning season since it went 12-0 in 2022 under Alyssa Foutz as a 6A school in Region 2.

“It’s tough for us as coaches and the girls who have been here for two years. They want to win. They’re hungry for it. It’s right there. It’s so close. We’re ready for it,” Bradley said.

For 2027, Bradley outlined what she hopes the foundation laid in 2026 will bring moving forward:

“A few more wins. Less goals allowed and lots more goals for us. We’re going to be a team to be reckoned with. Even if we’re not the most talented team, we’re the most hard-working team. Hard work will beat talent any time talent won’t work.”

Inside the Lines covers Northern Utah high school sports through the eyes of 51-year sportswriting veteran Bob Judson, who is a resident of Layton.