Postgame Press Conference (vs. NC) • Sunday, October 1, 2023
OL REIGN vs. NORTH CAROLINA COURAGE
POSTGAME QUOTES
Sunday, October 1, 2023 • Lumen Field • Seattle, WA
OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her message to goalkeeper Claudia Dickey ahead of the second half:
“Just to be a little bit more conservative in her positioning. I didn’t think she needed to come out that far. That was it.”
On if it was helpful having halftime to make adjustments after the red card:
“Yeah, we made the choice that we weren’t going to drop into sort of a 4-4-1, we were going to try and keep (forward Bethany Balcer) Boats and (forward Megan Rapinoe) Pinoe and then (forward) Jordyn (Huitema) and Pinoe with a slight ability to be able to stay a little higher, obviously the game sort of went on, we fell deeper and deeper. But I just think, again, you have to give something up when you’re down to 10 [players] and we gave up space to let their center backs have it a little bit and just because of the way that they play. But, we had some good opportunities to get up the field and counter-attack occasionally. But yeah, halftime came at a good time, for sure.”
On if this result will give the team a morale boost ahead of the next game:
“I honestly think the whole game, for multiple reasons, can do that. I think scoring the way we did – early, getting ahead, our game plan, executing it, sticking to it, believing in it, collectively as a team making sure that we kept the score to what it was in such a difficult – North Carolina are a hard team to play against with 11 [players]. With 10, again, you have to sacrifice something, but I thought the one thing that we didn’t sacrifice was our grit and our determination. I don’t often single people out, but I thought (midfielder) Nikki Stanton was absolutely exceptional today. For someone that hasn’t played a ton of minutes for us this year, I thought she was absolutely exceptional. The role that we needed her to do tonight, she executed at the highest of levels.”
OL Reign Forward Bethany Balcer and Defender Emily Sonnett
On having a player down and how they thought the game progressed:
Bethany Balcer: “I mean, we’re really proud of the group. I think that was the first time we’ve ever been down a player since I’ve been here, so really proud of our resilience, just to be defensively tight, obviously it was challenging – they were getting lots of shots off, but I thought we just did the job we were supposed to do and we actually created some chances. So yeah, obviously would’ve loved three points, but we’ll take the one point and build off of this because I think it showed how responsive we were.”
On what happened when North Carolina scored:
Emily Sonnett: “I think it was a long ball over the top, right? I think (Courage forward) Kerolin is a special player and what you don’t want to give is space. So, I think, kind of going off what (forward Bethany Balcer) Beth said, great to come back, have a nice half, obviously in the end down [a player] and kind of fix those things in the second half.”
On her goal:
Bethany Balcer: “We’ve been really working on set pieces. I felt like this time we were much more prepared on what the game plan was and Pinoe delivered a perfect ball. I just happened to lose my defender and that was with the help of our other players, helping me get loose. So, I just kind of peeled off the back post and found myself open and that’s one of the areas where I step up for the team and that’s what I do, so I was just happy to put the ball in the back of the net.”
On how the team is dealing with the preparation for Rapinoe’s upcoming retirement:
Bethany Balcer: “I mean, P has kind of been the backbone of this team for 10 or 11 years now, so I think our mentality doesn’t necessarily change, but now, we have kind of another purpose of why we’re doing this because this person has given so much to the club and has never won it all. So, I think that’s always in the back of our minds of just unfinished business and it just kind of gives us another reason to go out there and to fight because of how much fight she’s put in over the many years that she’s played in this league and specifically for this club.”
Download here: Postgame Press Conference (vs. NC) • Sunday, October 1, 2023