Postgame Press Conference Quotes (at WAS) • 3-26-23

 

OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey

 

On her thoughts from the game and if it was frustrating:

“I think we have to expect that. When teams think that we’re better than them, that’s what we’re going to expect, that people are going to try and write the game down, go long, frustrate us and we have to find ways to overcome that and we didn’t today.”

 

On defender Emily Sonnett playing in the midfield:

“I think she can play a role for us in that position. I think she breaks the game up well and can connect our team and especially if teams are going to do what they did to us today, we need obviously aerial presence to be able to win first and second balls. So, it’s something that we’ve worked on in preseason.”

On Sonnett’s performance today:

“She did well. She was OK. I think the field was awful, so it was difficult to play on it, but I thought she competed in there and did what we needed to do.”

 

On outperforming the Spirit but not getting the result:

“Honestly, déjà vu was how it felt. I think (Spirit goalkeeper) Aubrey (Kingsbury) made a really good save off (midfielder) Jess (Fishlock) in the first half, but I don’t think we made her have to make really good saves after that. I think we put her under pressure, but I don’t think we made her make great saves and I just said to the players then, I think that we have to be able to say, if we have the amount of chances we had today, we have to leave the field with a minimum of one goal – minimum – and we didn’t do that and we got punished for it.”

 

On Spirit forward Trinity Rodman’s goal:

“Everyone who knows me knows my pet peeve is when you don’t do defending throw-ins right and I believe it came off a throw-in, so I think that’s something that we will need to look at.”

 

On fixing the effectiveness of the team:

“I think it has to be actively fixed because we did a really good job of it at the end of last season in the regular season to solve that and be a little bit more ruthless. But then in the playoff game, we weren’t. So, we spoke a lot about it at the end of last season, we spoke a lot about it in preseason on putting it right so it’s frustrating today that we weren’t able to execute.”

Forward Jordyn Huitema

 

On having World Cup games throughout the season:

“I think that preseason is kind of structured similarly almost every year. I think, we’re coming in to be ready for this first game. I don’t think that the World Cup really changes the process for that. I think the awareness of it is just like, you know that you have to be peaking at a different point then when we would be peaking during season. Obviously mid-season or around that time you wouldn’t be peaking. It’s just an awareness piece of knowing that you have to be fully ready for that moment a little bit earlier than end of season. But yeah, I think the awareness is the season is starting anyways and you need to be ready for that first game. So, I think that no matter what, the whole prep of preseason was focused mostly on the season and I think the World Cup is kind of in the back of our heads right now. We’re going to just complete what we need to here and then move to international play.”

 

On if it’s difficult mentally to prepare for club and international:

“I think it’s just like with any major tournament. It’s always in the back of your head but at the same time, I think that we’re so good at kind of putting it on hold and just focusing on the present and where we’re at right now with the team. I think that all of our focus is with OL and then once the time is that we’re away from OL, that’s when our focus will shift. But as of right now, all of our focus is on this team.”

 

On dominating the game but not being able to get the result they want:

“I think it’s something that’s not a simple answer. I think that we’ve been kind of thinking about it for the last little while and I guess it’s as simple as ruthless in front of goal and bringing that into our training environment and just knowing that even within training, every ball that we get in front of the net, we have to treat it like a game. I know, even for me, I had opportunities today that I needed to finish and it’s about looking and reflecting myself and seeing what I have to work on. I think it’s just a self-reflection of being honest of our improvement areas and knowing that we have to finish those opportunities. I think it’s just bringing it in the game pressure into trainings and just working it day in and day out, but I don’t think it’s as easy of an answer as that seems.”

 

 

Midfielder Rose Lavelle

 

On her thoughts from the game:

“I think frustrating sums it up. I feel like it was kind of a game of first and second balls and we needed to do better with that, we needed to do better putting our chances away. We felt OK about how we were in possession, but I think just that kind of extra grittiness, we needed that, winning those and putting stuff away. So, definitely frustrating, but it’s the first game of the season, so we have stuff to learn and build on and we’ll go from there.”

 

On the fact that there is better to come:

“It is just one game but it’s still a really frustrating game. I think we don’t ever want to lose and I think we’re sick of feeling like this where we feel like we put a decent game forward and we don’t get the result we feel like we wanted or deserved and that’s frustrating and we can’t keep repeating that because I think we felt that way a lot last season and already the first game, feeling like this again sucks. So yeah, something that we are going to have to really look at ourselves and get better at.”

 

On her connection with forward Elyse Bennett:

“I think (forward) Elyse (Bennett) did great when she came in. I think she came in and changed the game. She went at people on the left side and created a lot and that’s what you want from people coming off the bench. Yeah, I feel like it was a good connection. We’ll look at the film and maybe feel a little better about it.”

 

On defender Emily Sonnett’s positioning in the midfield:

“She has been playing there for all preseason and it’s been good. I think she is a big defensive presence in there and she’s also a little cheeky, I feel like people don’t really see that side of her but it’s been fun.”

 

Download Quotes Here: Postgame Press Conference • 3-26-23