SEATTLE REIGN FC vs. ANGEL CITY FC POSTGAME QUOTES
Friday, October 4, 2024 • Lumen Field • Seattle, WA
Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her initial thoughts on tonight:
“I thought we started well, but we just weren’t a threat, again. I said to the players at the end, I think, including corners, I think we probably put the ball into their box 30 times and it’s either that we’re forcing that opportunity to do that or our movement isn’t good enough. I mean, we probably put 30 balls in the box and connected on two, maybe, and you’re not going to win football games like that. So, their goal comes off a second phase of a set piece. And yeah, I’m just disappointed again that our quality in and around the areas we need it to be isn’t enough.”
On Ainsley McCammon getting the start and her performance tonight:
“I’d been debating whether this was the right game for her and I thought that it was. You saw some glimpses of her quality. I wanted to get her on the field before she leaves to go to the World Cup.”
On her message to the team at halftime:
“I just said, we’ve got to keep the ball more, and they knew that. We needed to control the tempo of the game more, which we did, but I think when you do that, you need to be a threat, and we weren’t a threat. I threw every dart I could think about throwing in at the dartboard to try and get something else going. But yeah, unfortunately, we just couldn’t show that little bit of quality that we needed to get back into the game.”
Forward Jordyn Huitema and Defender Phoebe McClernon
On her initial thoughts on tonight:
Phoebe McClernon: “Disappointing. I think we had a lot of expectations before the season started and a lot of hope, and I feel like we just lost our way somewhere along the way this year. I think we still have an amazing locker room of girls and a group of girls who want to win championships, and I think we’ll find our way back to that one way or another, but this one hurt.”
On if she feels like there was a chunk of time in the game where they were the better team:
Phoebe McClernon: “I mean, I think it’s the nature of soccer that it’ll ebb and flow in terms of those types of things. But yeah, I mean, I thought there were times where we played the better soccer than they did and vice versa, but at the end of the day, we did not get the W.”
On their personal approaches to close out the season and how they can finish the regular season on a positive note:
Phoebe McClernon: “For me, I love this sport. It has given me so much. I feel so incredibly lucky when I get to play and seeing our fans and showing up for that every week still means so much to me. So, that’s what I’m playing for.”
Jordyn Huitema: ” I think as Phoebe said before, it’s been a tough season. We know that. All we can kind of do moving forward is fix the things that we need to take what we can. I think we can find positives in the season to be better and it’s as simple as that. I think everybody kind of puts a dark shadow on how bad our season was. It was bad, but you can only get stronger from that, and I think that’s what happens. I mean, look at Orlando from the year previous and now look at them now. I think the things that happen that knock you down the hardest lift you up the biggest. So, I think, it’s not our season, easy to say that, hurts, [unfortunate] to say, but all we can do is take that and move forward, have the fans behind us, know that we’re going to improve, know that we’re going to get better – that’s our main focus – play out the season, playing hard, playing how we’ve been playing this year, pushing with our heart and that’s all we can ask for. I think there’s so much potential from what happened this season to take forward. I think that no matter how bad a season is, you can always gain something from it and we will. So yeah, that’s it. It’s as easy as that.”