Postgame Press Conference (at ORL) • Friday, July 7, 2023
OL REIGN at ORLANDO PRIDE
POSTGAME QUOTES
Friday, July 7, 2023 • Exploria Stadium • Orlando, FL
OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey
On midfielder Jess Fishlock and defender Sam Hiatt getting subbed out early and if there is any concern for either of them:
“Yeah, a bit concerned about Sam (Hiatt) – heat exhaustion, again. So, we had to take her out, she was throwing up at halftime. Jess (Fishlock), just her hamstring was tight.”
On Orland Pride:
“I thought in the first half they were the better team. I thought in the second half, we actually got into the game a little bit more. We were on the back foot in the first half, we didn’t get on the front foot, obviously difficult conditions again – the heat was extreme. But I thought we dug in in the second half. We probably had the best chance off kickoff in the first half and goals change games and we didn’t take that one. I’d like to see the McKenzie (Weiner) one back that they gave offside that was then a handball on a penalty that wasn’t given, some inconsistencies there on the refereeing because that happened in the first half and they let the play go on. So yeah, overall, just frustrated that we couldn’t hold our performance to a higher standard, really. But, the players have been great up until now, the break has come at a really good time for us because we are hanging on by a thread, so we need these couple of weeks to regroup physically, mentally to get back at it again because we have dragged these players through a lot over the last four months. I think we’ve played the most games in the league with the most travel or something crazy. So yeah, the break has come at a good time for us.”
On the locker room and who can help the team regroup:
“Honestly, it’s not regrouping mentally, we’re fine with that – as in the loss, that’s not what it’s about. It’s about, we are struggling with injuries. We’ve got a lot of people who have been pushing through a lot of stuff. So, the biggest thing we need is a break and we’ve got one. So, we need to take it and use it wisely so that we can get players back to being fully fit and once they’re fully fit, then we can start to talk about all the other stuff. But right now, that’s been the biggest challenge of late is, I didn’t know even in the warmup if people could play, that’s how close they were and then obviously Jess couldn’t, Sam struggled, had to come out – legitimately couldn’t come out in the second half because she was so ill, so that’s where we’re at.”
OL Reign Forward Veronica Latsko and Goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce
On how they’re feeling overall:
Phallon Tullis-Joyce: “Physically, we’re professional athletes, so what I like to just talk about is that was just a tough loss for us as a team. I mean, it’s naturally just the progress of the season, that midseason is difficult for everybody. There’s not much that we can say about that. I think that we can just look at this game and there are so many things we can take away from this and just keep pushing forward, that’s all that we can do.”
Veronica Latsko: “I think that when the internationals are away, this is a lot of people’s time who don’t normally get playing time to step up and show up and I think we’ve been doing that the last couple games and this one, we just didn’t show up in that first half and we’ve got to show up for both halves.”
On how they think the team has done up until this point of the season:
Veronica Latsko: “I think that we are in a decent position. I don’t think that we’ve really put ourselves in a poor position, I think we’re in a better position than we were last year. There are still a lot of games left; this is a long season, so I’m pretty happy with how we’ve done for this half of the season.”
On what else was needed to get a goal:
Veronica Latsko: “I think we could’ve played more. I think we rushed things or just kind of were too direct when we could’ve connected that extra pass to kind of move them. I think we are a team that likes to play and I think we just played a little bit too direct today, so I think getting that extra one or two passes in, I think really would’ve opened them up.”
Download here: Postgame Press Conference (at ORL) • Friday, July 7, 2023