SANDY, Utah – Real Monarchs SLC achieved two firsts in the club’s history on Thursday night, with the side scoring five goals in a game for the first time in its history, and also notching its first three-game winning streak to start the season.

In a helter-skelter 90 minutes against Reno 1868 FC at Rio Tinto Stadium that saw the side almost  squander a three-goal halftime lead before earning a 5-3 victory, though, there was plenty to be absorbed.

“Obviously to score five goals in any game is obviously pleasing,” said Monarchs Head Coach Mark Briggs. “There’s also a number of things we have to learn from. We made our game difficult for ourselves in the last 15 minutes.”

The Monarchs recorded four goals in the first half in part thanks to its pressure in the opposing half that opened up quick scoring opportunities. The biggest example came on the second goal of the night when a cushioned interception by Nick Besler set by Sebastian Velasquez for his first goal of the season, but the Monarchs recorded a combined 15 interceptions and recoveries in Reno’s half during the opening 45 minutes to take control of the game.

“I don’t think we played particular well in possession but of course we were pretty good on our press and we forced them into errors,” said midfielder Charlie Adams. “We were able to punish them on the counter attack and we do that very well. You’ll see players like Sebastian [Velasquez], our wingers, myself, and [Chandler] Hoffman. So, that’s what we did well.”

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Velasquez put together another strong individual performance, too. The architect of the Monarchs’ opening goal as his slide-rule pass release Chandler Hoffman into the right side of the penalty area before the forward slid a low cross to Chase Minter for an easy finish, Velasquez completed 28-of-35 passes and created three chances during the contest.

And yet, it almost went horribly wrong late on. Trailing 4-1 with less than 10 minutes to go, Reno’s Dane Kelly struck twice to both make him the first player in USL history to 50 career goals and give 1868 FC a glimmer of hope to earn a result. A late – and slightly fortuitous – tally in stoppage time by Jose Hernandez sealed the points for the Monarchs, but the players came away realizing the attention to detail needed to be better.

“Maybe a bit of inexperience,” said Adams. “Maybe taking a breather when you need to run. Putting the ball in the corner when their momentum is probably against you. Winning a foul. But, that will come. It’s great that we have these situations early on in the season so we can learn from them. As I said, we’re a pretty young team so we’re going to learn from it in the future.”

The Monarchs – whose six-game winning streak that spanned the end of the 2015 regular season and start of 2016 remains the overall best in club history – will now get ready for a first meeting with Rocky Mountain rival Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC next Saturday night at Weidner Field.

After a perfect start in the win column – if not quite on the field – Briggs is aiming to make sure the details that almost derailed his side get ironed out.

“It’s just a case of me and my staff making sure we don’t get carried away,” said Briggs. “We haven’t achieved anything yet so we have to keep our feet on the ground, keep our minds focused, and we have keep working towards the end goal.”