Postgame Press Conference (at ACFC) • Sunday, August 27, 2023

OL REIGN at ANGEL CITY FC

POSTGAME QUOTES

Sunday, August 27, 2023 • BMO Stadium • Los Angeles, CA

OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey

On her thoughts on the match:

“I thought in the first half our quality wasn’t good enough; we didn’t move the ball quick enough and got punished on that because we gave it away and then obviously they got in behind us. I felt like we were the better side in the second half – we had a little bit more quality, we played a little bit quicker and the killer punch was probably the second goal. But I felt that we were pushing and probably if the game had lasted five more minutes, we maybe would’ve had another chance to get an equalizer, but we can’t have a first half like we had, really. We showed some of our qualities in the second half, I thought better, but in the first half, it wasn’t quite good enough.”

On the positives from tonight’s game:

“I think the positives of the game are that we have everybody fit and healthy for the first time. I thought (forward Megan Rapinoe) Pinoe made a big difference when she came on at halftime, just with some quality – opened up the field a little bit for us. So yeah, we’ve got a big week ahead of us because now we’ve got a huge game at home against Orlando (Pride).”

On starting goalkeeper Claudia Dickey over goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce:

“We’ve been thinking about it. We’ve been looking at some of the performances in the Challenge Cup and what we thought we needed and we made a choice to go with Claudia tonight.”

On starting midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt higher up and how she did in the first half:

“I think we tried to go for a solid midfield in the first half with (midfielder) Quinn, (midfielder Emily) Sonnett and (midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt) Olo and we know her physical capabilities, she can compete in there. I felt that she did a good job. I think she got on the ball a lot. She could’ve played forward a little bit more than she did, which I think could’ve caused them problems, which I thought we did a better job in the second half. But overall, I thought she had a good performance.”

OL Reign Forward Megan Rapinoe and Midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt

On how the team is feeling and if there is any sense of panic to make the playoffs with how close all the teams are:

Megan Rapinoe: “No, I don’t think there’s any panic, but we know what we have to do. So, we know this was a really important game and to drop all three points is not good, we needed something out of this game at the very least. Obviously, it’s not impossible, but yeah, everything is very tight and we know the objectives and we know that, not only do we need to play better, but we can play much better. We need to be a little calmer and let our qualities show in games like this.”

On if they have noticed a difference playing against Angel City FC now under interim head coach Becki Tweed:

Olivia Van der Jagt: “I mean, they do still like to play. I would say that’s very similar and we kind of knew that coming into this game is that we can expect that they do like to play. I think they probably are a little bit more composed, I would say, and so that’s something that we also knew. Just kind of going off what Pinoe said is just, for us, I think it’s not so much about them but just for us that we know the quality that we can have and we didn’t show that. Just moving forward into the games, it’s just being composed in the final third, I think that’s a huge thing for us and just getting the ball up there. It’s not so much about them, but more kind of a reflection on what we need to work on going into the next couple games.”

Download here: Postgame Press Conference (at ACFC) • Sunday, August 27, 2023