Pre-Match Press Conference (vs. SD) • 4-14-23
OL Reign Pre-Match Press Conference • Friday, April 14, 2023
Head Coach Laura Harvey and midfielder Jess Fishlock
On playing games with no more international breaks:
Laura Harvey: “We are looking forward to it. I think international breaks are always tough, especially for the ones that go away and come back – with the travel and time change and just mentally, it’s a lot to come from camp and then straight back in. So, it is something that we’re used to and used to having to deal with, both the ones that stay here and the ones that go away. But yeah, looking forward to a three-game week is also not great off the back of that. But, excited for our home opener, for sure.”
Jess Fishlock: “It’s going to be nice to get into a rhythm of games, like you said. Having to and stopping is not ideal but that’s just the way that the calendars work. We obviously have limited time to prepare for this kind of run now, so we really just have to get through tomorrow based off all the work that we did prior to the international break. But we’re feeling good, the group is good, training was good today. I know that the girls have been training really hard whilst everyone has been away and everyone is just looking forward to the home opener and kind of getting the season going, like you said, with a big run of games.”
On the NJ/NY Gotham FC game:
Laura Harvey: “Yeah, it was nice. We played some good stuff.”
Jess Fishlock: “Honestly, you kind of take the Washington (Spirit) result out of it, there were really good things in the Washington game, too, that we did – kind of came down to just putting the ball in the back of the net, which is something that we’ve really talked about. We didn’t really change much going into the Gotham game for those kind of reasons and we were just pretty clinical, I would say. We could been better and have scored more goals but getting a set play goal for us is huge as well, we’ve been working on that as well. So yeah, we’ll tap into that game and the Spirit game and help the experience of that, definitely going into this week where we don’t really have any training time at all because we have three games and we’ll all be shattered, so we just have to really kind of go off of those games and the preparation work that we’ve done prior until we can start, really, start getting the games and get some training within that. But the Gotham game was great, we also obviously remember that, remember how it felt and that’s important for us going into these games, which every single one is difficult.”
On San Diego Wave FC:
Laura Harvey: “I think they still have similar threats with the recruitment of (midfielder Danielle) Dani Colaprico and (midfielder) Meggie Dougherty Howard, I think they’ve tried to add another dimension to that and honestly, we played them a lot last year, but we didn’t play them after June. So, it’s been a long time since we’ve actually played against them. I think we evolved a lot since then. I think they obviously evolved a lot since then. But, I still think their threats still tend to be the same.”
On defender Alana Cook’s goal with the USWNT:
Laura Harvey: “I think she has the attributes to be a threat, for sure. I think that we have a lot of areas that we can be a threat on set pieces and (defender) Alana (Cook) can definitely be one of them. She, naturally, is like, ‘Oh, the goal wasn’t meant to be.’ And I’m like, whatever, you scored, don’t take that away from yourself, girl [laughs].”
Jess Fishlock: “Yes, it’s either a great ball or it goes in the back of the net at the end of the day.”
On how midfielder Rose Lavelle is feeling:
Laura Harvey: “It will be a game-time decision with (midfielder) Rose (Lavelle), which I feel like every game we play against San Diego, Rose has a game-time decision to be made about her [laughs]. So yeah, game-time decision on Rose.”
On the time management of the international players:
Laura Harvey: “I think obviously (defender Alana Cook) Lani and (defender Sofia Huerta) Sof only played in one of the two games for the U.S. (Women’s National Team), which was great. I think playing on Tuesday and then being asked to play again on Saturday isn’t disastorous. I think, the minute management probably comes more in the Wednesday game [against Angel City FC] and in the following Saturday game [against Chicago Red Stars]. I do think they feel good, they feel ready to go, I think we go off them a lot when it comes to this stuff. They felt good today and felt ready to go and obviously [Jess Fishlock] has probably played the most out of everybody and she’ll get a way and chugging away, as she does.”
On midfielder Luany settling with the team:
Laura Harvey: “It’s been great. She’s, obviously, excited to be here. She’s a really good character. She has no idea what I’m saying at any point of the day [laughs], so that’s great. But she is doing really well, I think she met us on gameday in Washington and then spent the week with us in New York and then had some time to get acclimated to Seattle and then got really good training sessions under her belt while the internationals were away. She is doing really well. I think it’s hard when someone comes this late in preseason or not even in preseason, without having a preseason – that we’ve just got to be mindful that she’s young, she’s got a lot of potential, but we’ve got to be really mindful of how we sort of integrate her into what is such a demanding league and obviously we can use the Challenge Cup as opportunities for that, I think.”
On playing at Lumen Field:
Jess Fishlock: “Lumen (Field) obviously has been great for us, we really enjoy playing there. It’s nice with the fans because they feel pretty close and you can really hear them and they do make a difference because they do feel really, really close to the field. Kind of like you said, hopefully we can build off of the end of last year with the attendances that we kind of got. We tend to be a bit of a slow burner with attendances, especially at the beginning of the year and everything gets broken up and everyone has already kind of played home games and we’re probably the only team that hasn’t played a home game and then there was, the league started and then there is an international break and so, for us, it’s like the league kind of starts now with regards to our home base and our fans and hopefully, the excitement is running through Seattle with, the (Seattle) Sounders (FC) have played games and now we’re coming here so, hopefully, the fans show up and are loud and do what they’ve always done for us because they really do make a difference and it’s so fun for us to play for them. It’s always far more fun to play for someone outside of our group and our fans are kind of perfect to play for. So, hopefully tomorrow we’ll have a good bunch of people there and we can put on a show for them.”
Download Quotes Here: Pre-Match Press Conference • 4-14-23