Postgame Press Conference (vs. ACFC) • Saturday, May 27, 2023
OL REIGN vs. ANGEL CITY FC
POSTGAME QUOTES
Saturday, May 27, 2023 • Lumen Field • Seattle, WA
OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her thoughts from the match and how the team stopped Angel City FC forward Alyssa Thompson:
“I think, obviously, after the – not really the North Carolina result, but more last week’s game and performance, we had a very good, vulnerable, honest chat when we got back into training and I think the foundation of this team has always been structured off of being defensively good as a team and that leads us into good attacking moments and I felt like we’d come away from that, so our tactic was nothing to do with (Angel City FC forward) Alyssa Thompson, not because she’s not a good player, because she’s an excellent player, but it was more of a collective effort to make sure that it is difficult for the opponent as possible to play through us, play around us, to play over us whatever they want to do, we have to match it and be better at it. I felt we did a really good job of that, even before they scored. We set the tone really well on that and we continued it throughout the game, and I think we got the rewards for that, which we haven’t been doing and we needed to get back to that and today, we managed to do that.”
On the performance and the drive to bounce back from last week’s loss:
“I said to the players after the game, you make a choice when things are going bad and you either dig in and you collectively try and solve it, or you focus on the things that we’ve not been doing well and forget what makes us great and I felt like we decided to decide we wanted to make ourselves great. This league’s hard, there’s no easy game, there’s no easy opponent, there’s no game where you can turn up and give 80% and honestly, that’s what I thought we did last week. We weren’t giving 50%, we were giving 80%, [Gotham FC] were 100% and you get punished. When we give ourselves the best possible chance of winning games, when we show up and we put in the defensive effort to then go in and provide ourselves with attacking opportunities and we did that. I thought we could have scored a lot more goals than we did; we had way more opportunities than we took today. But again, I honestly blackout in games, but I feel like a lot of it came from the defending, that was the way it felt.”
On her approach going into the rivalry game against Portland Thorns FC next week:
“Well, we have another game on Wednesday in San Diego, so we have to fly down there first, unfortunately. I mean, Angel City, San Diego and Portland in a week isn’t an easy week. I think the thing that I love about the Portland-Seattle rivalry, and I’ve always said this and I will continue to say it for as long as I’m involved in this league is, it’s the most authentic rivalry there is – it was apparent from day one, just historically, from the (Seattle) Sounders and the (Portland) Timbers and it just led straight into the women’s side of the game. I think there’s actually a real mutual respect there, even though we absolutely hate each other, but there’s a true mutual respect there and rightly so. These two clubs have led the way on the field for the whole time of this league. We had a dodgy 2013, but since then, I think we’re close to them on the amount of games won and obviously they’ve picked up championships, we’ve picked up Shields. For me, these two teams have been what set the standard on the field over the over the years and it is no better than a Portland-Seattle game, The fact it’s a doubleheader, hopefully, we can get a ton of fans here and the Sounders obviously playing before us this time, it will be great. It’s exciting, and I can’t wait for it, but we have to take care of business on Wednesday, first.”
On the starting XI she chose today:
“I think this week, honestly, was one of the hardest weeks to pick a [starting] 11. When you have the game we had last week, you could make 11 changes and no one is going to argue with you about it. But, we have the Challenge Cup on Wednesday, so we have to be mindful of that – three-game week, massive. I think (forward) Elyse (Bennett) is pressing and her outright willingness just to go. I’ve spoken about Elyse before, I think when she first came into the club, I feel like she thought she had to try and be similar to other players that play in her positions and we had a really good chat about a month ago and I was like, ‘We didn’t sign you for that. We signed you to be you,’ and I think since then, she’s – again, it’s hard to play on our team when it’s new because we’re quite tactical, but I think her understanding of what’s needed now has improved. I thought she was excellent. I thought Elyse was excellent, exactly what we needed her to be. And yeah, (forward) Veronica (Latsko) is consistent, reliable, she’s going to work her absolute – off for you and I’m so happy that she’s getting goals because I think last year she did really well in the Challenge Cup when she first came to the club, scored some goals, assisted and then she had a bit of a challenge in time as the season started to wear on, but she is one of the best trainers I’ve ever worked with. She gives absolutely everything to this team and I’m so glad she gets the credit today.”
On how important it was to have this kind of response:
“100%. I think, as a coach, especially me, I’m so pessimistic, but I think that my fear was that if you don’t respond today, you dig yourself a hole that’s really hard to get out of. But I believe in this group, always have. A lot of these players have been in this league a long time, whether it’s at this club or other clubs and they knew it. Yeah, I could feel it. I felt it in training. I could feel it in the warmup that they were dialed in and they wanted to respond. Our job is to try and get them to believe and when they believe and they believe in something, whatever that may be, I think that they can go out and beat anybody, but we have to continue to be who we are and not what we think we should be and that, first and foremost, comes from being hard to beat defensively and we did that today.”
OL Reign Forward Veronica Latsko and Forward Megan Rapinoe
On how the team performed today:
Veronica Latsko: “I think that going into this game this week, we just kind of stripped it all back and went back to the basics and focused on what the foundation of the Reign is and that is how hard we work defensively, just kind of falling back on that. The first goal, I think everybody just had the mindset of, ‘We’re not losing this game’ and we just kept putting our foot on the gas and I think that you guys could see that.”
On forward Veronica Latsko scoring a brace in three minutes:
Veronica Latsko: “Honestly, I didn’t know it was within three minutes. Once the sun came out, felt pretty long – that second half [laughs], it was getting a little warm out there. But yeah, honestly, just happy to get our team out of the tying zone and into the winning zone and honestly, put everything on a dime, so it was pretty easy.”
On forward Megan Rapinoe getting three assists in the game:
Megan Rapinoe: “I think in the previous games, honestly, a little bit, a lot of this season, I haven’t gone into the pockets as much as I normally do and that is just kind of my bread and butter – so dangerous, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense. We can get moving a little bit, get a little bit more fluid. So, I felt like I was just able to find those pockets and get into those a little bit more. We talk a lot about near-post runs and it just opens everything up. Obviously (forward) Elyse’s (Bennett) goal came off a near-post run but if we don’t have that, (forward Veronica Latsko) Ronnie doesn’t score that goal. If we don’t have people threatening in behind, we can’t find people at the top of the box. So, I think just in general, our movement was a lot better today and our exploiting of different spaces than just – whatever they want to leave open, we’re going to find that. So, I think that’s kind of what I was trying to focus on, put a lot of pressure on their backline and on their goalkeeper and then obviously, they do all the hard work and getting in front of people or hitting bangers from outside – we had a couple bangers today, I was like, ‘Quinn, excuse me?’ [laughs] On the eve of Pride month? Big, gay goal, I just love it. It’s just too good. But yeah, just try to be dangerous in those pockets and always put pressure on the defense, whatever they want to give us.”
On if the loss helped motivate her today or if she came into the game with a new mindset:
Veronica Latsko: “A completely new mindset. When there are games like that, you can’t dwell on it and I took my time to dwell and then came back to training and I was ready and prepared to go for Angel City. That’s just the way you have to go about it.”
On Latsko’s progression over the last year:
Megan Rapinoe: “Ronnie is a totally sane person, mostly [laughs]. No, I mean, V has been so good for us this year, having to adapt a lot, play a couple different positions, play kind of new things that we’re asking, scoring goals, putting pressure on the defense, getting assists, just always being there, super professional. Obviously, you don’t stay in this league if you’re not good and smart and professional and show up the way that we need. So, I think in an environment where we kind of have some older players but a lot of younger players as well, Ronnie just always keeps the bar really high and pushes everyone and makes sure that we have a lot to laugh with Ronnie about – but wild sh** always happens to you, it’s so funny – her car got stolen earlier this week. But yeah, just good energy and a good vibe and just a good person and then on the field, obviously making a huge impact in so many ways.”
On looking at personal accomplishments:
Veronica Latsko: “Honestly, I just want our team to win and especially winning the league, winning the Championship and winning the Challenge Cup, especially with the million-dollar prize, sounds really, really nice. I just want our team to win, so if I can help our team win, that’s all that matters.”
Download here: Postgame Press Conference (vs. ACFC) • Saturday, May 27, 2023