Postgame Press Conference (vs. LOU) • Saturday, July 1, 2023
OL REIGN vs. RACING LOUISVILLE FC
POSTGAME QUOTES
Saturday, July 1, 2023 • Lumen Field • Seattle, WA
OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey
On signing a two-year contract extension with OL Reign:
“I’m happy that the club thought that I was the right person for the job to do that. I’ve said a lot that this club is really special. To see where it’s come from until today has been a phenomenal journey. I obviously have been very lucky to be a big part of that journey and it’s been a big part of my life for the last 10/11 years. I’m just really thankful to the club, (OL Reign CEO) Vincent (Berthillot) and to (OL Reign general manager) Lesle (Gallimore) and everyone who has been involved in making it happen. It was something that when Lesle came in, we both spoke about trying to take away as many uncertainties as we possibly can for the players and this is just another one of those things. So yeah, just really glad that we could put pen to paper.”
On her overall thoughts on the match:
“I said to the players at the end, with the week we’ve had – two games on the road, coming back, very limited rest – a lot of teams would have, when that second goal goes in, sort of, given up and let the game die, but we have a different mentality here, not just the regular starters, it’s everybody. I thought (forward) Veronica (Latsko) was excellent when she came on – all the subs who came on changed the game and those that played on Wednesday and then had to put a shift in today, fantastic. We’re going to need everybody during this period and we’ve sort of looked at the World Cup period in two chunks of regular season and Challenge Cup and three games in both Cup and league, to deal with while the World Cup is on and we know that it’s difficult and three games in a week when you’ve lost all your players, I’d love to know who thought that was a great idea. It’s really, really challenging. Not only that, then to play at 12:30 on Saturday is even more challenging and to play against a team that didn’t have a midweek game – there are so many things. I thought you could see that we looked fatigued in the first half. We made some poor decisions and our quality wasn’t quite there, but we ground them down. I felt we showed a different side of us in the second half and really happy that we could grind out and get back into the game and score when we could and maybe we could’ve won it at the end.”
On being undefeated since June 3:
“I’ll go back to the (NJ/NY) Gotham game, I don’t even know when that was but sometime in May. The Gotham game was a key pinnacle change for us and yeah, we lost to Portland at home and that was tough, but it wasn’t a terrible performance. It was two teams, very close but two moments of quality from them and we couldn’t show that quality when we were in those positions. We’re showing consistency and probably today was our worst performance that we’ve had in that period. Credit to Louisville, I thought that they played well and tactically did some good things against us and I just think that consistency is the key for us, it always is, it always has been and when we can show consistent performances throughout, we tend to get results and that’s what I think we’ve done ever since the Gotham game, honestly.”
On what sparked the last 10-minute comeback within the team:
“I think we started to play a little bit smarter. I think they dropped off a little bit, which enabled us to move the ball around a little bit more. I thought our subs changed the game and we sort of went for it, we went from a double 6 to double 10s with (forward Olivia Athens) Liv and (forward Bethany Balcer) Boats. We just needed a spark and the first goal was that and then obviously the second goal coming off a set piece was great. So, we’re disappointed with their goals, obviously the first one comes off a set piece in the penalty and the second one, yeah, everyone stopped, so we need to deal with that. But yeah, it was physical.”
OL Reign Defender Lauren Barnes and Forward Veronica Latsko
On their overall thoughts on the dramatic comeback:
Lauren Barnes: “Honestly, a testament to this team – all internationals gone, it’s tough, we just played on Wednesday, [Veronica Latsko] played 90-plus on Wednesday in two different positions, focused enough to come in and score a goal for us – that’s how good this team is. So, whatever we want to do, we want to wait until the last 10 minutes to pull those out, but behind that, it’s the trust that we have people coming off the bench to make that impact – players we talk about them all the time and how important they are and through a long season, it’s hard – you’re not in the starting lineup, you’re in the starting lineup, but it’s the consistency we have when people come on and make that impact and that’s what makes this team so special.”
On head coach Laura Harvey getting a two-year contract extension:
Lauren Barnes: “I wouldn’t play for anyone else. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Veronica Latsko: “I’ve had a lot of coaches over the years and professionally, it makes the biggest difference when a coach has faith and confidence in you and treats you so well as a person, you just feel valued. So, regardless of what’s happening on the field, you just feel like you’re valued as a person and at the end of the day, I think that’s so underrated and professionally this is the first time that I feel like I am so valued, here.”
Download here: Postgame Press Conference (vs. LOU) • Saturday, July 1, 2023