Postgame Press Conference Quotes (at ACFC) • 4-19-23
OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey
On midfielder Jess Fishlock’s goal celebration and if she knew about it:
“No. I just asked her.”
On how she balances having the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup during the regular season:
“Well, we obviously rotated quite a lot of players out of the starting XI from the weekend and I think that we believe in the depth of our roster. I think it’s important that we show that. It didn’t quite go to plan with (midfielder Quinn ) Quinny having to come off injured when they did but outside of that, it pretty much went to plan. So yeah, I think we just have to balance it. I think the fact that we’re playing at noon on Saturday, it may be even more extreme.”
On rotating the lineup now and how it will be helpful once players are gone during the World Cup:
“Yeah, exactly. I think that’s massive for us. I think the amount of players we’re going to miss in the summer, it’s important that we know what we look like when they’re gone. We weren’t in a position to really do that tonight, just with stuff that people have got going on. So, they gave us a chance to rest (defender Sam Hiatt) Sammy and both (forward Bethany Balcer) Boats and (midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt) Olo and we can obviously then, potentially later on in the Challenge Cup, look to rest either (defender) Alana (Cook), (defender Emily) Sonnet, all those guys are going away.”
On if she has any injury updates:
“Yeah, Quinn got a knock on their ankle. We don’t know too much about it as of now, but we’ll get back to Seattle tomorrow and get it assessed. (Midfielder) Rose (Lavelle) is still dealing with the thing she was dealing with from the national team and we’re trying to be very cautious not to rush her back and (defender) Shae (Holmes), yeah, I think it was precaution, really, more than anything. Obviously, when someone’s got a potential concussion, it was really precautionary.”
On her thoughts on some of the younger players tonight:
“Yeah, I thought they all stepped up and I said it before, I think we use The Women’s Cup last year to utilize our roster. This year, we did it in the Portland tournament in preseason and we will be doing it throughout the Challenge Cup. I think it’s really important that these players get a chance to play and get minutes and get to see what the NWSL is really like. I thought, yeah, I thought all three of them [defender Ryanne Brown, goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and Holmes] were great.
On Dickey’s performance:
“Yeah, I thought Claudia was great. I’ve said before, I think, obviously (goalkeeper) Phallon (Tullis-Joyce) has done exceptionally well in her taking on the No. 1 spot. But, (goalkeeper) Laurel (Ivory) and Claudia are exceptional goalkeepers. We are very, very lucky to have the three that we have and we will be using the Challenge Cup to showcase that and I thought Claudia did exactly what Claudia does every day for us. So, it was no surprise, really, for us that she was as good as she was. She’s exceptional with her feet. She has grown a lot in regard to how she manages a game dealing with crosses. She had to make a couple of saves tonight, but I think just her management of the game was exceptional.”
OL Reign Goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and Forward Jordyn Huitema
On pressuring goalkeepers during the game:
Jordyn Huitema: “I enjoy adding pressure to goalkeepers. I like speeding up the game like that. I think you can clip a few times a bit off of them a few times and obviously, I got lucky with that one today. But yeah, I definitely do that in training a lot.”
Claudia Dickey: “Not only that, but she finishes like that in training every single day. I said to her after, I was like, I’m glad you scored on someone other than me, but I think that was a key for us. First half, we weren’t putting pressure on the goalie and they were getting out and as soon as she came on, she made a mistake and I think that’s something that we can continue to do.”
On having her first NWSL minutes:
Claudia Dickey: “Yeah, it felt really good. From last year, I think it was a little different because the crowd here is insane. It wasn’t the same amount as full capacity, but I think that coming into this, I knew and I trusted in my teammates more so and I knew I just had to make the easy saves and keep them in it. I think, without them, I wouldn’t have been – made it this far or even played as well. I just leaned on them for support and the coaches and everybody got me to where I wanted to be. So, it was fun.”
On scoring her first goal of the season:
Jordyn Huitema: “I think I’ve been talking a little bit about the monkey on my shoulder, within the league and obviously heading into the national team, got the goal, so I was feeling good and confident coming back into season with the team. And then to get the goal here is kind of pushing in the right direction of where I wanted to go, kind of got the monkey off the back, now we can feel good going into the rest of the season, keep pushing for more.”
On OL Reign’s performance:
Jordyn Huitema: “I think it was just a little bit of a game of two halves. I think going into the first half, you never know how they are going to come out and you can kind of prepare for what you think it’s going to be, but it might be a little bit different, so I think kind of our halftime conversation was just fixing a few things – a few feet, a few yards, that kind of changed the pictures for us and pushed us in the direction we wanted to go through the second half. And obviously second half usually opens up a little bit more with fatigue and everything like that. So, definitely took advantage of that, but just little alterations that we needed to make going into second half. The first half was still good, lots of high energy – it’s a super intense game, we know it’s going to be intense when we play such good caliber teams, like we have on the west coast. Yeah, definitely a game of two halves, but it was good all around.”
Claudia Dickey: “We didn’t really know – because it’s Challenge Cup, who was going to play or what system they’re going to play and how they’re going to come out, like (forward) Jordyn (Huitema) said, so I think that was something that we needed to figure out early on and that was something that we talked about, amongst the players and at half time. I think that was what she’s talking about, a tale of two halves – we learned what they were going to do and what was working for them and we tried to change that and I feel like second half, we got more of the ball, we kept possession and we were on them the whole time. So, I think, like she said, it was two halves, but they were both good. I feel like there were a lot of positives to take from both halves.”
On the announced bid from USA and Mexico to host the 2027 World Cup:
Jordyn Huitema: “I think it would put a lot of attention on North American football or North American soccer, which is needed. It’ll pull big crowds. I think that it would put a lot of eyes on soccer in North America as well, which is good and kind of expand the game, which is where it’s heading, in that direction anyways. But it would definitely push us in the right direction. I think having a World Cup, in any country, pushes that country further and having it in North America would be amazing.”