Seattle Reign FC vs. Orlando Pride Pre-Match Press Conference • Saturday, May 18, 2024
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her overall thoughts ahead of the match:
“Excited to be back at home. Obviously, a tough team ahead. They’ve had a fantastic start to season to the season. They deserve all the credit that they’ve been given. Excited to pitch ourselves against them and see how we do. So, I think, yeah, really excited to be back at home.”
On Barbra Banda’s impact in the NWSL:
“Yeah, I think she’s obviously started really well. She’s a world class talent. I think anyone who’s followed the game in recent years knew that before she got here. I think that prevention is better than cure when it comes to Banda like, can you prevent her from getting in and around the area that she wants to get in to cause you a problem? I think the influx of international talent is a great thing for the league. It shows that it’s a destination league again and something that we can all build from.”
On how she wants the team to improve after reviewing the loss to Portland:
“I just think when something goes against us, and the penalty was obviously a game changing moment, that we’ve got to try the best you can and I think this is a tough thing to do is, you’ve got to try and stay in the game and we did for a little period after the penalty but not for long enough and that was probably the biggest takeaway from that.”
On how the team is looking to improve on the attack side:
“Yeah, I think final third has been a challenge for us. I think last week we did some really good stuff until we got in and around the goal and we didn’t make the goalkeeper working enough. So, it’s just fine details, I think, for us of, how we can cause the opponent problems and when we get in and around there, show a little bit of quality.”
On injury updates:
“Jordyn’s the closest. I think she’s probably a week out and then the other two [Claudia Dickey and Quinn] will probably be after the FIFA break. Alana has trained all week. We’ve had a couple of other players with illnesses, but I think that they’ll be fine.”
Defender Phoebe McClernon
On the team’s overall feeling going into the game against Orlando tomorrow:
“I think we are feeling opportunistic. I think that at this point, we’re going to be the underdog going into any game that we’re playing right now and I think that, in a lot of ways, that’s an exciting position to be in. We have to get results, that’s obvious, and I think that we’re in a good head space heading into this one.”
On what the team learned from the game against Portland:
“In Portland, three of their four goals, obviously not the PK, but the other three were all scored in a similar fashion – they were cut-back goals, so that’s something that we need to be better at. Be better at defending because Orlando gets a lot of crosses and they get a lot of success from crosses. So, definitely tackling that in box organization. I think our patience and build up on the offensive side of the ball is something that will continue to work on and continue to try to get better at. I think our center backs, whether that’s Alana Shae, Lu (Lauren Barnes), whoever it is in there, they’re all really good ball-playing center backs. So, them having the confidence to start our build for us is going to be huge.”
On how the team is staying positive:
“Yeah, I think something that’s been frustrating in all the games that we’ve dropped this year is that we’ve walked away not feeling like we didn’t do anything at all – specifically in Portland, I think that first half was one of our better halves of soccer that we’ve played this year, so there’s a lot of positives to draw from that. I think our conversion rate in scoring is something that we’re looking to improve upon, obviously. I think that we had really quality chances in Portland and just turning those quality chances into actual goals is something that we’re definitely striving to make happen here. So, I think we’re, again, optimistic that we can do that.”