Postgame Press Conference (at NC) • Sunday, May 14, 2023
OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey
On her thoughts from the match:
“We knew it was going to be difficult in a 3 p.m. kickoff on the East in hot conditions. I think, when we were smart in how we played, we did some good things. When fatigue sat in and we weren’t as smart, we made it difficult for ourselves. I think we didn’t start on the front foot. It was hard to get into the first half when we when we weren’t at that. I thought in the second half, we controlled the game more, but we were lacking quality. I felt that, throughout the whole game, we just didn’t have a lot of quality but a lot of it was down to decision making, I thought. So, obviously disappointed to lose, but I think we’ve been on a really good run. This is a tough place to come. We’ve obviously done a lot of East Coast games in this period, so we’ll be glad to get back to the West and stay there for a little bit.”
On midfielder Quinn making a return:
“Obviously, they’ve been out a little while – adds quality, adds someone who can keep the ball for us, enables us to get (midfielder) Jess (Fishlock) higher up the field, which is a positive. Yeah, it’s good to get them back out on the field today.”
On if the team was planning on attacking from the right side today:
“No, it wasn’t a strategy.”
On her communication to the players to use space more effectively:
“I think we just connected more passes, honestly. When we do that, we gain momentum. I felt we could have switched the ball 100,000 times more than we did – we didn’t. I thought that played into their hands a little bit and that’s something we’ve got to look at because when we can switch the point of attack, when we can keep possession and switch it around the back or move the ball, we become a better team because of it and we didn’t do that enough today. So, that’s something that we’ll definitely be looking at.”
On midfielder Rose Lavelle’s injury:
“It’s the one that she got on the national team. It’s the one that kept her out of the last national team game and has kept her out ever since.
On if Lavelle’s injury is knee related:
“Yeah, it’s in her knee. She’s on the mend, she’s back on the field and she’s training. It’s just taken a little bit longer than we all wanted.”
OL Reign Forward Elyse Bennett and Midfielder Quinn
On being back on the field:
Quinn: “It feels good to be back, definitely have struggled with some injuries this season so it’s always nice to be healthy again and to get some minutes on the pitch.”
On what they saw from North Carolina:
Elyse Bennett: “I think that North Carolina (Courage) wasn’t really doing anything that we didn’t expect them to do. I think we know that they are a really great passing team and they want to play out of the back and they’re confident on the ball. I think that in the first half, we just came out a little bit slower and they were on the front foot. So, I think in the second half, we just had to pick it up and unfortunately, we weren’t able to find the equalizer, but I think that we’ll learn from this game and we’ll move forward and be better in the next.”
Quinn: “I feel like we did a little too much work defensively because we weren’t anticipating it enough and putting them in good pressure pockets and then when we got on the ball, we weren’t skipping past the first line of pressure to be able to get a little bit more possession, a little bit more tempo and allow ourselves some breathing room.”
On how the team can learn from this game:
Elyse Bennett: “I think, personally, we just can’t start games off slow. I think that, in this league, it’s hard to come back in games when we don’t start off on the front foot, so I think that just prioritizing coming out and starting from the first minute of the game is something that we need to focus on.”
Quinn: “I think, a learning is – a team like North Carolina has the quality to get on the ball more and keep a little bit more possession. We need to understand how to handle that if we need to do periods of defending, so I think that’s a good learning for us is how we adapt to that and then how we pivot into our transition off of it.”
Download here: Postgame Press Conference (at NC) • Sunday, May 14, 2023